A Tribute to The Talent That Was Sandy Denny‏

by Robert Wilson

Some of my favorite artists died young. Buddy Holly, Jim Croce, John Denver, and the subject of this article, Sandy Denny.

Born Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny in Wimbledon, U.K. in 1947, Sandy was influenced early on by traditional and folk music and over her tragically short career was recognized by her peers as the pre-eminent folk singer songwriter of her time. She wrote so many poignant, beautiful songs but her stand out track to me is "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" covered very many times, by such people as Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith and Eva Cassidy.

In 2007, listeners to BBC Radio Two voted the track as the "Favourite Folk Track of All Time", quite rightly in my opinion.

Sandy replaced Judy Dyble in the superb British folk band "Fairport Convention" in 1968 and steered the band towards exploring traditional British folk music. The album "Liege and Lief", featuring Sandy's magical voice is probably the best folk album ever, certainly one that I still play very often. Prior to that she had been approached by another folk group, "The Strawbs" and cut one album with them, featuring an early version of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes."

Following this, Sandy formed her own group with husband to be Trevor Lucas. The band was called "Fotheringay" and their one album is also amongst the most-played in this household, but once again her stay was short-lived as she disbanded the group to pursue a solo career. She did in fact later rejoin Fairport Convention for one further album, "Rising For The Moon."

She went on to record four solo albums "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens", "Sandy", "Like An Old-Fashioned Waltz" (the title track of which has been covered by Emmylou Harris) and "Rendezvous". Sandy was insecure and had frequent doubts about her talent.

Absolutely no-one else shared her doubts yet she could not see that. Her insecurity led her to drinking more than she should and in her last few months she suffered some blackouts. It was one of these that probably led to her having a fall down some stairs, and a month later a collapse which led to her untimely death in 1978 at the age of just 31.

Had she lived, who knows whether her self-doubts would have enabled her to continue and further what to me was a glittering career, who knows what incredible songs she would have written like the tunes of hers that have become standards. A terrible waste of an immense talent, but Sandy Denny lives on in the hearts of her huge following of fans.

Bob Wilson writes extensively on music and TV for such sites as http://www.TunesOnTheTube.tv and http://www.TVShowSoundtracks.net.com.