Jackie Leven

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Jackie Leven in Leicester , 2005

Jackie Leven (* 18th June 1950 in Kirkcaldy , Scotland ; † 14. November 2011 ) was a British songwriter and folk - musician .

Life

Jackie Leven, who came from a Roma family, began his musical career in the late 1960s under the pseudonym John St. Field, under which he also recorded the album Control in 1973. Inspired by punk , after a period of traveling, he founded the band Doll by Doll in 1978. Although the band was very popular at their public appearances, they never made a definitive breakthrough. Four albums were released between 1979 and 1982.

After Doll by Doll broke up in 1983, Jackie Leven began his solo career. During the recording of his first solo album in 1983, he was ambushed and strangled on the street at night, which meant that he could not speak for almost two years afterwards. He started using drugs and became addicted to heroin . Nevertheless, he released the single Big Tears under the name "Concrete Bulletproof Invisible", which became the single of the week in Melody Maker in 1988 . Finally, Leven was able to get rid of his addiction through acupuncture and founded the CORE Foundation, which advocates a holistic approach to the treatment of heroin addicts.

In 1994 his solo career finally began with the release of the album The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than the Mystery of Death , which earned him many positive reviews. Until his death he published a total of 15 solo albums and some material for fans only. His album Jackie Leven Said , released in 2005, is a collaboration with crime writer Ian Rankin , who, like Leven, comes from Fife , Scotland .

He gathered his fans in the company The Haunted Valley . Once a year, members enjoyed a limited album by the Bard, mostly with live recordings. The Haunted Year - Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn - were a series of re-releases of these albums. Two are released as double CDs per season.

Jackie Leven used several pseudonyms. As Sir Vincent Lone , he released three albums with songs on topics that were too out of line for his image as a folk musician. In the song “The War Crimes of Ariel Sharon”, for example, he asked about the reasons for the cold-heartedness of the former Israeli prime minister. In "Moscow Train" he described a fictional train journey from Berlin to Saint Petersburg, in which he chats as Sir Vincent Lone with Bob Dylan about the Moscow subway.

With his last alter ego, Jackie Balfour , he continued what he had already indicated in live albums such as For Peace Comes Dropping Slow or the aforementioned Jackie Leven Said : his great talent as a narrator. In late 2007, the first album was released under this pseudonym, Chip Pan Fire .

Jackie Leven died on November 14, 2011 after a serious illness.

Discography

As a soloist

  • The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than the Mystery of Death ( Cooking Vinyl , 1994)
  • Forbidden Songs of the Dying West (Cooking Vinyl, 1995)
  • The Argyll Cycle (Cooking Vinyl, 1996)
  • For Peace Comes Dropping Slow (Haunted Valley, 1997)
  • Fairytales for Hardmen (Cooking Vinyl, 1997)
  • Saint Judas: When I Went Out to Kill Myself (Haunted Valley, 1998)
  • Man Bleeds in Glasgow (Haunted Valley, 1999) - as Jackie Leven and the Celtic Soulmen
  • Night Lilies (Cooking Vinyl, 1998)
  • The Wanderer (Haunted Valley, 1999)
  • Greek Notebook (Haunted Valley, 1999)
  • Munich Blues (Haunted Valley, 2000)
  • Defending Ancient Springs (Cooking Vinyl, 2000)
  • Creatures of Light and Darkness (Cooking Vinyl, 2001)
  • Deep in the Heart of Nowhere (Haunted Valley, 2001)
  • Barefoot Days (Haunted Valley, 2002)
  • Greetings from Milford (Haunted Valley, 2002) - with the Stornoway Girls
  • Shining Brother, Shining Sister (Cooking Vinyl, 2003)
  • Men in Prison (live from Bergen Prison) (Haunted Valley, 2003)
  • For Peace Comes Dropping Slow (Cooking Vinyl, 2004)
  • Jackie Leven Said (Cooking Vinyl, 2005) with Ian Rankin
  • Elegy for Johnny Cash (Cooking Vinyl, 2005)
  • Oh What a Blow That Phantom Dealt Me! (Cooking Vinyl, 2007)
  • Lovers at the Gun Club (Cooking Vinyl, 2008)
  • The Haunted Year - Winter (Men in Prison & Munich Blues) (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)
  • The Haunted Year - Spring (Man Bleeds in Glasgow & Greetings from Milford) (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)
  • The Haunted Year - Summer (Barefoot Days & Deep in the Heart of Nowhere) (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)
  • The Haunted Year - Autumn (Greek Notebook & Only the Ocean Can Forgive) (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)
  • Gothic Road (Cooking Vinyl, 2010)
  • Wayside Shrines and the Code of the Traveling Man (Cooking Vinyl, 2011) - with Michael Cosgrave
  • One Long Cold Morning (Haunted Valley, 2011)
  • Heroes Can Be Any Size (Cooking Vinyl, 2012)

As John St. Field

  • Control (Cooking Vinyl, 1975)

As a member of Doll by Doll

  • Remember (Automatic, 1979)
  • Gypsy Blood (Automatic, 1979)
  • Doll by Doll (Magnet, 1980)
  • Grand Passion (Magnet, 1982)
  • Revenge of Memory (live at Sheffield Limits Club 1980) (Haunted Valley, 2005)

As Sir Vincent Lone

  • Songs for Lonely Americans ( Glitterhouse , 2004)
  • When the Bridegroom Comes (Songs for Women) (Cooking Vinyl, 2008)
  • Troubadour Heart (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)

As Jackie Balfour

  • Chip Pan Fire (Cooking Vinyl, 2007)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jackie Leven: 1950-2011 , November 15, 2011, theartsdesk
  2. ↑ Edo Reents in the FAZ of November 15, 2011: Obituary for Jackie Leven "The Vagabond"
  3. ↑ Legendary folk musician: songwriter Jackie Leven is dead. In: Spiegel Online . November 15, 2011, accessed June 10, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Year of publication on Xnet.it
personal data
SURNAME Leven, Jackie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John St. Field (pseudonym); Jackie Balfour (pseudonym); Sir Vincent Lone (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish song composer and folk musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Kirkcaldy , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 2011