The Watersons

The Watersons were one of England's premier singing families. Their early albums played an influential role in the revival of British folk music in the 1960s. British folklorist A.L. Lloyd recalled the group's "hand-crafted harmonies, an immediately recognizable and uniquely distinctive group sound which is uninhibited, spontaneous seeming, and rich in texture," while www.singers.com praised their mastery of "stark melodic scales, stunning polyphonic harmonies, and outstanding song selection." The Watersons represented the combined efforts of sisters Norma (born August 15, 1939) and Elaine "Lal" Waterson (born February 15, 1943; died September 4, 1998), their brother Mike (born January 6, 1941; died June 22, 2011), and their second cousin, John Harrison. Natives of Hull, a city in East Yorkshire County, the Watersons were orphaned at an early age and raised by their Irish/Gypsy grandmother, who often sang at informal sessions. The Watersons operated a folk club, Folk Union One, in Hull, where they established their early reputation.

Initially known as the Mariners and then the Folksons, the Watersons adapted their family name before recording their debut album, Frost and Fire, which Melody Maker named as the Best Folk Album of 1965. The same year, Derrick Knight filmed the group for a video, Travelling for a Living, produced for the BBC. The original lineup recorded two more albums -- The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland -- before the departure of Harrison, who moved to London in 1966. The Watersons disbanded two years later, with Norma going on to host a radio show in the West Indies and Lal living with an extended family on a folk commune on the Yorkshire Moors.

Although they focused on traditional British folk songs on their early albums, the Watersons became increasingly adventurous after reuniting in the early '70s. Harrison was replaced first by Bernie Vickers and then by Martin Carthy, who married Norma Waterson in 1972. Their first album following their return, Bright Phoebus, included original songs by Lal and Mike and electric accompaniment by Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Tim Hart, and Maddy Prior. Although the two sisters recorded a duo album, A True Hearted Girl, and Mike recorded a self-titled solo album in 1977, they continued to record and perform together. Three memorable albums -- For Pence and Spicy Ale, Sound, Sound Your Instrument of Joy, and Green Fields -- were released before Lal and Mike retired from the road in 1981.

Returning to music in the mid-'90s, Lal Waterson recorded two albums -- Once in a Blue Moon and A Bed of Roses -- with her son Oliver Knight, an electric guitarist and recording engineer. She succumbed to cancer on September 4, 1998, only ten days after the disease had been diagnosed. Norma and Martin Carthy joined with their fiddler/vocalist daughter, Eliza, to form Waterson:Carthy in 1994. Mike Waterson died of cancer on June 22, 2011 at the age of 70.

from Wikipedia:

The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.

Career

Original members were Norma, Mike, and Lal Waterson, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School. They had a skiffle band in the early 1960s but moved on to playing more traditional material. They were briefly known as "The Folksons".

Their first album was Frost and Fire 1965 (awarded the Melody Maker Album of the Year, a rarity for a debut album) followed by The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland in 1966. The Watersons split up in 1968, when Norma went to work as a disc jockey on a radio station on Montserrat.

The group reformed in 1972, with John Harrison briefly replaced by Bernie Vickers. In 1972 that the group performed and arranged the music for the Alan Plater TV Play for Today, "The Land of Green Ginger", set and filmed in Hull. The band appeared in a scene filmed in the Bluebell Folk Club.

Vickers was replaced the same year by Norma's husband, Martin Carthy. This line-up recorded For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975), Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy (1977), and Green Fields (1981).

Later line-ups featured Mike Waterson's daughter Rachel Waterson, who briefly replaced Lal during a leave of absence caused by ill health in the mid-1980s, then continued to sing with the group on Lal's return. This five-piece line up performed regularly during the late 1980s and recorded a session for the BBC Andy Kershaw show in August 1986. In 1987, the group collaborated with Swan Arcade to form Blue Murder, who have performed and recorded sporadically with various line-ups to the present day. Subsequent Watersons line-ups fluctuated, featuring Eliza Carthy, Anne Waterson and Maria Gilhooley at various times, but recording only occasionally.

Lal Waterson died in 1998 and, by the early 1990s, Carthy, Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy had formed the group Waterson:Carthy. The Watersons gradually ceased to sing live on a regular basis, but the family occasionally reconvened for special events and festival appearances, where they are usually billed as "The Waterson Family". These have included 'A Mighty River of Song' at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 May 2007, the BBC Electric Proms concert, 'Once in a Blue Moon: A Tribute to Lal Waterson', at Cecil Sharp House in London on 25 October 2007 and 'A Tribute to Bert,' a concert celebrating the life and work of Albert Lloyd, at Cecil Sharp House on the 15 November 2008. During the summer of 2009, "The Waterson Family" performed at a number of festivals and large concerts throughout England and Ireland.

Mike Waterson died on 22 June 2011, aged 70.