Barbara Gaskin

Barbara Gaskin (born June 5, 1950 in Hatfield , Hertfordshire ) is an English singer who had a number 1 hit in the British charts in 1981 with her musical partner Dave Stewart . She had previously enjoyed success with the bands Spirogyra , Hatfield and the North and the Ottawa Music Company.

In the course of her musical career, Barbara Gaskin has worked with numerous bands and musicians, including Egg ( The Civil Surface ), National Health , Peter Blegvad ( The Naked Shakespeare ), Phil Miller , Nigel Planer ( Neil's Heavy Concept Album ), Jane Wiedlin ( Tangled ), Rick Biddulph and Mont Campbell ( Music from a Round Tower ).

Live and act

Barbara Gaskin grew up in her native Hatfield in the south east of England. From the age of ten she had piano and cello lessons. She taught herself the basics of playing the acoustic guitar and performed in local folk clubs.

In 1969 she began to study philosophy and literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury . She quickly made contact with the local folk scene and became the singer of the band Spirogyra, with whom she recorded three albums. The band has performed frequently in the UK and has also made some successful European tours.

During this time Gaskin met Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart . She performed with the band Hatfield and the North and was a member of the Ottawa Music Company, which Stewart and Chris Cutler founded in 1971.

When Spirogyra disbanded in 1974, Gaskin traveled through Asia for almost three years, stimulated by her interest in Far Eastern philosophy. She earned her living as an English teacher, but was also active as a singer. The stops on her trip include Japan, Java, Bali and India.

Back in England, Gaskin joined the female-only band Red Roll On, where she played keyboards and sang. With Canterbury as their starting point, they performed in the greater London area .

Gaskin also began working with Stewart again. She sang in choir on Bill Bruford's 1980 album Gradually Going Tornado , to which Stewart contributed some compositions. In 1981, Gaskin and Stewart had a number 1 hit with their re-recording of the pop classic It's My Party . The duo's collaboration, which continues to this day, resulted in a series of albums and singles, none of which - despite a few other chart placements such as Busy Doing Nothing (1983) and The Locomotion (1986) - resulted in the success of It's My Party could repeat.

Discography with Dave Stewart

Albums

1987: The Singles
1990: The Big Idea
1991: Spin
2009: Green and Blue
2009: The TLG Collection

Compilations

1986: Up from the Dark
1988: As Far as Dreams Can Go
1990: The Singles Broken Records
1993: Selected Tracks

Singles

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
year	title	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Remarks
1981	It's my party	DE3 (23 weeks) DE	AT3 (14 weeks) AT	CH6 (8 weeks) CH	UK1 gold (13 weeks)UK	US72 (8 weeks) US
1983	Busy doing nothing	-	-	-	UK49 (5 weeks) UK	-
1986	The Locomotion	-	-	-	UK70 (4 weeks) UK	-