Frankie Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Frankie Armstrong is a singer and voice teacher.
She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Involved with folk and political songs from the 1950s, she has performed and/or recorded with Blowzabella
, The Orckestra
(with Henry Cow
and the Mike Westbrook Brass Band
), Ken Hyder
's Talisker, John Kirkpatrick, Brian Pearson, Leon Rosselson
, Dave Van Ronk
and Maddy Prior
. She is blind from glaucoma.
, Hertfordshire
as a young child. She began singing in a group with her brother singing Elvis Presley and Little Richard numbers, and in 1957 joined the Stort Valley Skiffle Group which a few years later changed its name to the Ceilidh Singers as its repertoire moved towards folk music. The group founded the Hoddesdon Folk Club.
In 1963 she began working with Louis Killen and performing solo, then in 1964 she joined The Critics Group
under Ewan MacColl
, Peggy Seeger
. In 1965 sang at the Edinburgh Festival "Poets In Public", with John Betjeman
, Stevie Smith
and Ted Hughes
.
Her first recording, in 1965, was at the invitation of Bert Lloyd who as director of Topic Records
was putting together a recording of erotic songs with Anne Briggs
, released as The Bird in the Bush.
In the mid-1970s Armstrong pioneered workshops based on traditional styles of singing. She was a member of the Feminist Improvising Group
(FIG), co-founded in 1977 by vocalist Maggie Nicols
, bassoonist Lindsay Cooper
, keyboardist Cathy Williams, cellist and bassist Georgina Born
, and trumpeter Corinne Liensol. Armstrong collaborated within the accomplished FIG after 1978, and also with free jazz pianist (and partly percussion playing) Irène Schweizer
, saxophonist (and film maker) Sally Potter
, trombonist and violist Annemarie Roelofs
, flutist and saxophonist Angèle Veltmeijer, and saxophonist and guitarist Françoise Dupety.
She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Involved with folk and political songs from the 1950s, she has performed and/or recorded with Blowzabella
Blowzabella
Blowzabella are an English band who play bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies and an array of acoustic instruments to produce an inimitable, driving, drone-based sound influenced by British and European traditional dance music.-History:...
, The Orckestra
The Orckestra
The Orckestra were a 12-piece English avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in March 1977 with the merger of avant-rock group Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong...
(with Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
and the Mike Westbrook Brass Band
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
), Ken Hyder
Ken Hyder
Ken Hyder is a Scottish jazz fusion drummer and percussionist born in Dundee, Scotland, perhaps best-known for combining folk, ethnic and Celtic music with jazz...
's Talisker, John Kirkpatrick, Brian Pearson, Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was...
, Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
and Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
. She is blind from glaucoma.
Biography
Frankie Armstrong moved to HoddesdonHoddesdon
Hoddesdon is a town in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated in the Lea Valley. The town grew up as a coaching stop on the route between Cambridge and London. It is located southeast of Hertford, north of Waltham Cross and southwest of Bishop's Stortford. At its height during the 18th...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
as a young child. She began singing in a group with her brother singing Elvis Presley and Little Richard numbers, and in 1957 joined the Stort Valley Skiffle Group which a few years later changed its name to the Ceilidh Singers as its repertoire moved towards folk music. The group founded the Hoddesdon Folk Club.
In 1963 she began working with Louis Killen and performing solo, then in 1964 she joined The Critics Group
The Critics Group
The Critics Group, also known as The London Critics Group, was a group of people who met to explore 'how best to apply the techniques of folk-music and drama to the folk revival' under the direction of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, with some participation from Bert Lloyd and Charles Parker...
under Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
, Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
. In 1965 sang at the Edinburgh Festival "Poets In Public", with John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
, Stevie Smith
Stevie Smith
Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith was an English poet and novelist.-Life:Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull, was the second daughter of Ethel and Charles Smith. Contemporary Women Poets...
and Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
.
Her first recording, in 1965, was at the invitation of Bert Lloyd who as director of Topic Records
Topic Records
Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...
was putting together a recording of erotic songs with Anne Briggs
Anne Briggs
Anne Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she traveled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music...
, released as The Bird in the Bush.
In the mid-1970s Armstrong pioneered workshops based on traditional styles of singing. She was a member of the Feminist Improvising Group
Feminist Improvising Group
The Feminist Improvising Group were a five- to eight-piece English free improvising avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in London in 1977...
(FIG), co-founded in 1977 by vocalist Maggie Nicols
Maggie Nicols
Maggie Nicols , is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer.-Early life and career:...
, bassoonist Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper
Lindsay Cooper is an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians...
, keyboardist Cathy Williams, cellist and bassist Georgina Born
Georgina Born
Georgina Born is a British academic, anthropologist and musician. As a musician she is known as Georgie Born, but in academic circles she does not use the diminutive form.-Background:...
, and trumpeter Corinne Liensol. Armstrong collaborated within the accomplished FIG after 1978, and also with free jazz pianist (and partly percussion playing) Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...
, saxophonist (and film maker) Sally Potter
Sally Potter
Charlotte Sally Potter is an English film director and screenwriter.-Career:Having left school at sixteen to become a filmmaker, Potter joined the London Film-Makers' Co-op and started making experimental short films, including Jerk and Play...
, trombonist and violist Annemarie Roelofs
Annemarie Roelofs
Annemarie Roelofs , also spelt Anne-Marie Roelofs and Anne Marie Roelofs, is a Dutch trombone player and violinist, and is a professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. She is a member of several musical groups and has performed in Holland and England.-Biography:Roelofs...
, flutist and saxophonist Angèle Veltmeijer, and saxophonist and guitarist Françoise Dupety.
Solo
- Lovely on the Water, Topic 12TS 216, LP (1972)
- Songs and Ballads, Topic 12TS 273, LP (1975)
- Out of Love, Hope and Suffering, Bay 206, LP (1973)
- And the Music Plays So Grand, Bay Records BAY206, LP (1980)
- I Heard a Woman Singing, Fuse Records CF 389, LP (1985)
- Ways of Seeing, Harbour Town Records HAR009 (1990) - CD (1996)
- Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn (A collection of Child BalladsChild BalladsThe Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
), (1996) - The Garden of Love (1999)
- Encouragement (2008)
Collaborations
- The Bird In The Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs)The Bird In The Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs)The Bird in the Bush is a folk album by A. L. Lloyd, Anne Briggs and Frankie Armstrong, released by Topic Records in 1966. The album is a collection of traditional erotic British folk songs, although the album's content is largely in the form of euphemism and does not contain explicit references...
, Topic - with A.L. Lloyd and Anne BriggsAnne BriggsAnne Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she traveled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music... - Nuclear Power No Thanks, Plane Label IMP2, LP (1981) - with Roy BaileyRoy Bailey (folk singer)Roy Bailey MBE , is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals.....
, Martin CarthyMartin CarthyMartin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
, Ron Elliott, Howard Evans, Chris Foster, Sandra Kerr, John Kirkpatrick, Alison MacMorland, Brian Pearson, Geoff Pearson, Leon Rosselson, & Roger Williams - Tam Lin, Plant Life PLR 063, LP (1984) - with Brian Pearson, Blowzabella and Jon Gillaspie
- My Song is My Own Plane Label TPL 0001 (1980) - with Sandra Kerr, Alison McMorland and Kathy Henderson
- Let No One Deceive YouLet No One Deceive YouLet No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht is an album by American folk and blues singer Dave Van Ronk and vocalist Frankie Armstrong, released in 1992...
- the songs of Bertold Brecht (1992) by Dave Van RonkDave Van RonkDave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, The Red Onion Jazz Band and others. Recorded in the USA but apparently never available in UK, even as an import. - Fair Moon Rejoices, Harbour Town Records HARCD027 (1997) - with Joan Mills, Biddy Wells, Peter Stacey, Ben Lawrence, Geoff Haynes and Darien Pritchard
- Darkest Before the Dawn, Harbour Town Records HARCD 045 - with Sarah Harman & Shanee Taylor
Reissues
- Lovely on the Water, a reissue of Frankie's first solo LP, with extra tracks from the 1960s & 1970s (FECD 151).
- Ways of Seeing (solo, duo and group apace women's voices HARCD 009).
- I Heard a Woman Singing, a reissue by Rounder Records, USA (CD FF 332) of an early 80s LP of Frankie's, is distributed in Britain by Topic RecordsTopic RecordsTopic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...
. - The Bird in the Bush, (TSCD 479) with additional material from Louis Killen and Norman KennedyNorman KennedyNorman Kennedy was a trade unionist and politician in Ireland.Kennedy was a prominent member of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union. He served as President of the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1957...
.
Books
- My Song is My Own, Kathy Henderson, Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr. London: Pluto Press, 1979. One hundred traditional and composed women's songs from the British Isles, with select bibliography and discography.
- Autobiography As Far as The Eye Can Sing, edited by Jenny Pearson, published by Women's Press in 1992 (ISBN 0-7043-4294-4)
- Well Tuned Women: Growing Strong through Voice Work, co-edited with Jenny Pearson, containing essays from leading international women voice trainers and artists, is also published by Women's Press (ISBN 0-7043-4649-4).
Literature
- Julie Dawn Smith: Playing like a girl - The queer laughter of the Feminist Improvising Group. In: Daniel Fischlin and Ajay Heble (Editors): The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation, and Communities in Dialogue. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press in 2004 (ISBN 0-8195-6682-9), p. 224-243.