Ewan MacColl

Ewan MacColl ( born January 25, 1915 in Salford, near Manchester, † 22 October 1989 actually James Henry Miller ) was a British author, poet, actor, folk singer and record producer with Scottish roots.

Life

He was born as James Miller, the son of Scottish parents in Salford ( Lancashire ), where he also grew up. Later he changed his name after a Scottish poet he admired in Ewan MacColl. He played an important role in the Scottish labor movement of the 1930s. With his late wife, Joan Littlewood, he founded the " Theatre Workshop " and moved to London, where he began a successful career as an actor and playwright. George Bernard Shaw called him a genius. His long association with Topic Records began in 1950, when he there his single "The Asphalter '' s Song " published.

MacColls preference was of folk music, he collected traditional folk songs and recorded over the years about a hundred records, many with the English folk singer AL Lloyd. The two published a series of eight albums with the songs collection by Francis James Child, many of these songs can be found on their other boards.

1956 MacColl caused a scandal when he left his then- second wife Jean Newlove for Peggy Seeger. For them he wrote "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". The song was in the interpretation of Roberta Flack in 1972 a hit, both MacColl and Flack were honored for the song with Grammy Awards.

Another very famous piece of it is the song " Dirty Old Town", with which he sang his hometown of Salford, Lancashire. The song including in the interpretation of Rod Stewart and the Pogues became known.

Developed together with Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker MacColl "Radio Ballad ", a kind of documentary radio drama or feature that united four elements: songs, instrumental music, sound effects and above all, preserve the original recorded voices of the workers or fishermen, are the subject of documentation were. They recorded eight of these radio ballads that were sent in the BBC 1957-1964.

Seeger and MacColl took many plates with politically oriented songs. MacColl himself wrote over 300 songs, many of which were sung by famous artists such as Planxty, The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Ewan MacColl 2001, the Essential Songbook was published, with texts and notes of 200 of his songs.

His daughter from his second marriage Kirsty MacColl, followed him into a musical career, although their music was less traditional.