Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl (born October 10, 1959 in Croydon , † December 18, 2000 in front of Cozumel ) was a British pop singer and singer-songwriter .
life and career
MacColl was the daughter of the dancer Jean Newlove and the popular folk music singer Ewan MacColl .
She first became known as the singer of the punk pop band Drug Addix . Those in charge of the record company Stiff Records , with which the band was under contract, lost interest in the formation, but were impressed by the singer. So MacColl got her first solo record deal.
In 1979 her debut solo single They Don't Know was released. Although the piece became a major radio hit ( airplay hit) in the UK , the single never hit record stores because of a delivery strike. When MacColl didn't manage to get into the charts with the follow-up single You Caught Me Out , MacColl said that their record company lacked the necessary support. In 1981 she therefore moved from Stiff Records to Polydor . With the funny but also challenging piece There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis from the critically acclaimed album Desperate Character , she then managed to place in the top 20 of the British charts.
When there was no lasting success, Polydor canceled the existing record deal in 1983, immediately after she had recorded the pieces of music intended for a second album. She then returned to Stiff Records. Her singles released on this label such as Terry or He's on the Beach were failures. Only with a cover version of Billy Braggs A New England was she able to record a success in 1985. The single reached number 7 on the UK charts. The version of the song she recorded contained two new stanzas that Bragg had written especially for her. As she was in the late stages of pregnancy at the time of publication, the lines she sang, “I loved you then as I love you quietly; Though I put you on a pedestal, You put me on the pill ” (“ I loved you as much at the time as I do now; even though I put you on a pedestal, you made sure that I took the pill ”) a certain amount Cheerfulness from the audience.
MacColl became known in the USA as the composer of the piece They Don't Know . Tracey Ullman's version of the piece reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1983, perhaps also because of a guest appearance by Paul McCartney in the accompanying music video , and placed in the top ten of the US charts . For most of its running time, the piece was regularly heard at the end of every episode of the Tracey Takes On TV show on HBO . When Stiff Records went bankrupt in 1985, MacColl temporarily lost the ability to release tracks in its own name as no record company was willing to buy out its contract from Stiff's insolvency administrator . Due to her talent, however, she was used as a background singer in many productions by other artists during this time. In particular, these were recordings that were produced or edited by her then husband, Steve Lillywhite . These included pieces for The Smiths , Van Morrison and the Talking Heads , among others .
In December 1987, MacColl reappeared in the UK charts when the single Fairytale of New York , which she recorded with the group The Pogues , climbed to number 2. Due to the success of this duet number, which she sang with Shane MacGowan, she accompanied The Pogues on their European tour in 1988. According to her own statements, this experience should have helped her to overcome her stage fear at least temporarily.
She then returned in 1989 with the album Kite as a composer and singer of substance. The album, which also featured David Gilmour and Johnny Marr , received critical acclaim. The texts of the pieces included dealt with life in Great Britain at the time of Margaret Thatcher (Free World) , the transience of fame (Fifteen Minutes) and the whims of love (Don't Come the Cowboy with Me, Sonny Jim!) .
Although "Kite" contained many new compositions of great quality, the cover version of The Kinks track, Days , which placed MacColl in the top 20 of the UK charts, was the most successful of all the tracks on the album. Since there was also a cover version of The Smiths track You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby on the album , MacColl earned the undeserved reputation of cover queen in view of her previous success with A New England .
During this time MacColl was also engaged for the British comedy show French and Saunders , in which she played herself and performed various songs such as 15 Minutes and I Ride . Along with Ken Bishop , she sang the hit Something Stupid originally released by Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra on the show .
In the following years she continued her composition work and released the album Electric Landlady . The title of the album, as a play on words, was intended to establish a relationship with the Jimi Hendrix album Electric Ladyland . This album contained her biggest hit in the US with the piece Walking down Madison , which she wrote with Johnny Marr. In Great Britain the piece reached a top 30 position in the charts in 1991. Despite these placements, the album was a commercial failure for MacColl's record company at the time, Virgin Records (now EMI Group ), so that it was dropped from the record company in 1992 when Virgin Records was sold to EMI.
Inspired by the previous divorce from Steve Lillywhite, she released the album Titanic Days in 1994 . Once again, however, she found no mercy in the record industry. After the album had only been released by the record company ZTT Records as part of a single deal, this company later refused to sign a record deal for MacColl.
The following year she released the new track Caroline and a cover version of the Lou Reed track Perfect Day , which she recorded in a duet with Evan Dando ( The Lemonheads ), on Virgin Records' "Best of" album Galore . Although Galore made it into the top 20 of the UK album charts, neither of the two new pieces made it to the top 40 of the charts. This fate was also destined for a new edition of the play Days . After this disappointment, MacColl stopped publishing tracks for a number of years, and her frustration was exacerbated by a protracted writer's block .
Several trips to Cuba were able to revive MacColl's creativity. In 2000 she released the album Tropical Brainstorm , inspired by Latin American and especially Cuban traditional music , which is often referred to as her most outstanding work, as it testifies to a successful and particularly effective fusion of Latin sounds with original British lyrics. The album includes the track In These Shoes , which was widely broadcast on radio programs in the United States. It was covered by Bette Midler , used on the HBO television series " Sex and the City ", and used by Catherine Tate as the theme song for her BBC TV show.
The texts written by MacColl, ranging from humorous to biting to touchingly sad, are difficult to categorize, which in some cases may have affected the commercial success of their works. MacColl developed a pronounced stage fear early in her career, which she first overcame during one of her first tours and which she was never really able to overcome. She refrained from performing for long periods of time in order to concentrate on raising her children.
death
On December 18, 2000, MacColl died in a swimming accident in Mexico near Cozumel , where she was vacationing with her family. While swimming together in an area reserved for divers, she was hit by a motorboat and died on the spot. The collision occurred when MacColl tried to pull her son out of the way of the incoming motorboat. The boat was owned by Guillermo González Nova , owner of Comercial Mexicana and the national Costco franchise chain. At the time of the accident, he was on board the boat together with several family members. The seaman José Cen Yam confessed to having steered the boat at the time of the collision. According to the owner, this should have traveled at a speed of only one knot . The sailor was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to pay a fine of 1,034 pesos .
Eyewitnesses contradicted both the statements of the sailor regarding the person of the helmsman at the time of the accident and the claims of the owner regarding the speed of the motorboat. The MacColls family campaigned for a legal re-examination of the circumstances that led to Kirsty's death. Among other things, she turned to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights with a petition . To the misfortune, Olivia Lichtenstein made a documentary broadcast by the BBC entitled Who Killed Kirsty MacColl? The campaign ended up being unsuccessful.
Honors
- Since her death, Billy Bragg has sung the piece A New England only with the additional verses he once wrote for her.
- In 2002 a commemorative concert was held in London's Royal Festival Hall in her honor , attended by many artists who had previously worked with her or who had been influenced by her work.
- In 2001 a bench was erected in her memory at the south entrance of Soho Square in London . This was based on a passage from one of her most impressive pieces: "An empty bench in Soho Square / If you'd have come you'd have found me there." ("An empty bench in Soho Square / If you had come, you would have found me there.")
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
|||
| 1981 | Desperate character | - |
First published: July 1981
|
| 1989 | Kite |
UK34  (12 weeks)UK |
First published: July 1989
|
| 1991 | Electric Landlady |
UK17 (8 weeks) UK |
First published: June 1991
|
| 1994 | Titanic Days |
UK47 (2 weeks) UK |
First published: October 1993
|
| 2000 | Tropical brainstorm |
UK39  (9 weeks)UK |
First published: March 2000
|
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1985 | Kirsty MacColl | - |
First published: March 1985
|
| 1993 | The Essential Collection | - |
First published: August 1993
|
| 1995 | Galore |
UK6th (29 weeks)UK |
First published: March 1995
|
| 1998 | What Do Pretty Girls Do? | - |
First published: July 1998
|
| 2001 | The One and Only | - |
First published: August 2001
|
| 2005 | From Croydon to Cuba: An Anthology |
UK98 (1 week) UK |
First published: May 2005
|
| The Stiff Years | - |
First published: June 2005
|
|
| The Best of Kirsty MacColl |
UK12 (8 weeks)UK |
First published: July 2005
|
|
| 2006 | Stiff Singles Collection | - |
First published: September 2006
|
| 2008 | The Collection | - |
First published: September 2008
|
| 2013 | A New England: The Very Best of Kirsty MacColl |
UK41 (4 weeks) UK |
First published: February 2013
|
| 2014 | All I Ever Wanted: The Anthology | - |
First published: April 2014
|
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 CH
|
UK
|
|||
| 1981 | There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis Desperate Character |
- | - |
UK14 (9 weeks) UK |
First published: May 1981
|
| 1983 | I want out |
DE58 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
First published: March 1983
with Matchbox |
| Terry |
- | - |
UK82 (3 weeks) UK |
First published: October 1983
|
|
| 1984 | A New England |
- | - |
UK7 (11 weeks) UK |
First published: December 1984
|
| 1987 | Fairytale of New York If I Should Fall from Grace with God |
- |
CH67 (2 weeks) CH |
UK2  × 3
(104 weeks)UK |
First release: November 1987
The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl Chart entry UK: December 15, 2007, Chart entry CH: December 30, 2018 |
| 1989 | Free World Kite |
- | - |
UK43 (7 weeks) UK |
First published: March 1989
|
| Days kite |
- | - |
UK12 (12 weeks) UK |
First published: June 1989
|
|
| Innocence Kite |
- | - |
UK80 (4 weeks) UK |
First published: September 1989
|
|
| 1990 | Don't Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim! Kite |
- | - |
UK82 (4 weeks) UK |
First published: April 1990
|
|
Miss Otis Regrets / Do I Love You Red Hot + Blue |
- | - |
UK85 (1 week) UK |
First published: November 1990
with The Pogues and Aztec Camera , produced by the Red Hot Organization |
|
| 1991 | Walking Down Madison Electric Landlady |
- | - |
UK23 (7 weeks) UK |
First published: May 1991
|
| My Affair Electric Landlady |
- | - |
UK56 (2 weeks) UK |
First published: July 1991
|
|
| 1995 | Caroline Galore |
- | - |
UK58 (2 weeks) UK |
First published: February 1995
|
| Perfect Day Galore |
- | - |
UK75 (2 weeks) UK |
First published: June 1995
with Evan Dando |
|
| 1999 | Mambo de la Luna Tropical Brainstorm |
- | - |
UK89 (1 week) UK |
First published: November 1999
|
| 2000 | In These Shoes? Tropical brainstorm |
- | - |
UK81 (2 weeks) UK |
First published: February 2000
|
More singles
- 1979: They Don't Know (First published June 1979)
- 1981: Keep Your Hands Off My Baby (first published February 1981)
- 1981: See That Girl (Desperate Character; first published September 1981)
- 1981: You Still Believe in Me (first published November 1981)
- 1983: Berlin (first published in August 1983)
- 1985: He's On the Beach (first published June 1985)
- 1991: All I Ever Wanted (Electric Landlady; first published September 1991)
- 1993: Angel (Titanic Days; first published November 1993)
- 1993: Can't Stop Killing You (Titanic Days; first published November 1993; only published in Australia)
- 2005: Sun On the Water (The Best of Kirsty MacColl; first published July 2005)
Posthumous publications
- Her musical work is summarized in the triple CD set From Croydon to Cuba , released in 2005 , which contains pieces from all of the artist's creative phases.
- Also in 2005, the album Titanic Days was re-released as a deluxe double CD set. The albums Kite and Electric Landlady were also remastered and re-released with additional tracks. Her first album Desperate Character is currently unavailable. However, some of the tracks on this album can be found on the From Croydon To Cuba CD set .
- On August 7, 2005, the album The Best of Kirsty MacColl was released , which placed in the top 20 of the British charts.
literature
- Karen O'Brien: Kirsty MacColl: The One and Only. Biography. André Deutsch, London 2004, ISBN 0-233-00070-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Justice for Kirsty Campaign . August 15, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: DE CH UK
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | MacColl, Kirsty |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | MacColl, Kirsty Anna (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 10, 1959 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Croydon , London , UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 2000 |
| Place of death | Cozumel , Mexico |