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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBELLAMY, Peter(b 8 Sep. '44, Norfolk; d 24 Sep. '91) Founder member of folk trio the Young Tradition remained an infl. figure on UK folk scene. Infl. by Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd, found singers Sam Larner and Harry Cox still keeping local music alive, he never gave up his love of traditional singing. Solo career since incl. LPs Mainly Norfolk '67, Fair England's Shore '68 on Xtra label while still with group; then The Fox Jumps Over The Parson's Gate '70 on Topic, Won't You Go My Way? '71 on Argo (collaboration with Louis Killen), Tell It Like It Is '75 on Trailor, Both Sides Then '79 on Topic with guests Heather and Royston Wood (from Young Tradition), the Watersons, Dave Swarbrick, others. His interest in poet Rudyard Kipling, seen by some as Empire jingoist, by others (incl. T. S. Eliot) as a major poet, coincided with Kipling reappraisal: Oak, Ash And Thorn '70 used poems from Kipling's children's books Puck Of Pook's Hill and Rewards And Fairies, set to trad. folk tunes; Merlin's Isle Of Gramarye '72 was similar (both on Argo). Strong friendship with Copper Family, incl. their songs in act; helped with their four-disc A Song For Every Season on Leader, a seminal set of British unaccompanied singing; discovered veteran trad. singer Walter Pardon '73 and helped with his A Proper Sort and Our Side Of The Baulk on Leader; also Joe Heaney/Gabe O'Sullivan with Joe And The Gabe. Wrote and prod. two-disc ballad-opera The Transports -- A Ballad Opera '77 (on Free Reed) about convicts sent to Australia, incl. contributions from Martin Carthy, June Tabor, the Watersons, A. L. Lloyd, others, settings by Dolly Collins. The Kipling odyssey resumed with Barrack Room Ballads '77 (Free Reed UK, Greenlinnet USA) incl. 'Mandalay', 'Gunga Din'; also Keep On Kipling '82 on Fellside. Tour with hour- long show on Kipling's life and works; made Fellow of the Kipling Society, vice-president '81. Second Wind '85 for English Folk Dance and Song Society label: played all instruments, incl. some American songs ('Motherless Child'), Chris Smither's 'Devil Got Your Man'. He was perceived by some as right-wing, but simply felt that left-wing polemicists had hijacked his beloved folk music and contributed to the demise of the traditional song. |