Ewan MacColl

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Life

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

MacColl's preference was for folk music, he collected traditional folk songs and made around a hundred records over the years, many together with the English folk singer AL Lloyd . The two released a series of eight albums with Francis James Child's song collection . Many of these songs can also be found on her other records.

In 1956, MacColl caused a scandal when he left his then second wife Jean Newlove for Peggy Seeger . For her he wrote The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. The song became a hit as interpreted by Roberta Flack in 1972, and both MacColl and Flack won Grammy Awards for the song .

Another well-known piece by him is the song Dirty Old Town , with which he celebrated his hometown of Salford in Lancashire. The song became known, among other things, in the interpretations of Rod Stewart and the Pogues .

Together with Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker, MacColl developed the "Radio Ballad", a kind of documentary radio play or feature that combined four elements: songs, instrumental music, sound effects and, above all, the recorded original voices of the workers or fishermen who were the subject of the documentation . They recorded eight of these radio ballads, which aired on the BBC between 1957 and 1964.

Seeger and MacColl made many records of politically oriented songs. MacColl himself has written over 300 songs, sung by Planxty , The Dubliners , The Clancy Brothers , Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash . In 2001 the Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook was published, with lyrics and sheet music for 200 of his songs.

His second marriage daughter, Kirsty MacColl , followed him in a musical career, although her music was less traditional.

Works

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sabine Krug in Der Spiegel No. 03/61 of January 11, 1961
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland, October 15, 1961, p. 4

Web links

personal data
SURNAME MacColl, Ewan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Miller, James Henry (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish author, poet, actor, folk singer and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Salford
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1989
Place of death London