Peter Bellamy (1944 - 1991) was an English folk singer.

Early years

Peter Bellamy was born in Norfolk, the son of a farm bailiff. He studied at the Royal College of Art under Peter Blake. Decades later he still looked like a latter-day Andy Warhol, with blond hair, a scarlet jacket and yellow trousers. He dropped out of college in 1965 to become a member of "The Young Tradition" with Royston and Heather Wood. The trio recorded mainly traditional songs in harmony. At Whitby folk festival in the 80s an anagram competition came up with "Elmer P Bleaty" for Peter Bellamy, a humorous comment on the slightly nasal vibrato of his voice. The Young Tradition projected their voices powerfully, clearly influenced by The Watersons, the Copper Family and Ewan MacColl. They recorded three albums together plus a collaboration with Shirley Collins called "The Holly Bears The Crown". Although recorded in 1969 it was not released in full until the 90s. Their final concert was at Cecil Sharp House in October 1969. Peter recorded a collaboration with Louis Killen in 1971, "Won't You Go My Way?".

Peter as a Solo artist

His first solo album "Mainly Norfolk" (1968) indicated his desire to promote the folk music of his native part of England. Harry Cox, still alive at that time, was the most famous singer of Norfolk songs. Peter accompanied himself on the anglo concertina and guitar. Although he often sang blues on bottleneck guitar, these rarely appeared on his albums. It wasn't until his eighth album in 1975 that he recorded his own compositions. In the same year he recorded a collection of Rudyard Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads. Peter was that rare creature, the right-wing folk singer. One of his ancestors, Surgeon-Commander Bellamy, had served with Nelson. Having mastered the art of putting new words to a traditional song and his own words to a traditional tune, he then wrote a ballad-opera "The Transports". It was a huge act of faith for the Free Reed record label to produce this. Many prominent names in the folk scene collaborated on the project - Dolly Collins (a composer, the sister of Shirley), Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, June Tabor, Nic Jones, A.L. Lloyd, Cyril Tawney and Dave Swarbrick. It told the story of the early transportation ships, taking convicts to Australia. In 2004 it was re-released together with a new production involving Simon Nicol and Fairport Convention. Another ambitious project "The Maritime Suite" was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 but never issued on record. In 1986 Sid Kipper and others devised a ballad opera called "Crab Wars". It was partly a parody of "The Transports", but Peter took it in good humour and even sang the role of narrator.

Bellamy, Kipling and the Tradition

At first Peter suffered from copyright problems with the Kipling songs but the Kipling Society eventually recognised the value of the publicity and endorsed his recordings. The economics of folk singing meant that he sold his own limited edition cassettes at folk clubs and many performances exist only as pirated tapes. It is said that Celtic Records have a large cache of quality recordings that are unlikely to be issued. Peter designed his own album jackets and drew cartoons for Karl Dallas's national paper "Folk Review". He continued to exhibit and sell his paintings. He bought an Amish hat in Pennsylvania and wore it at folk festivals. Sydney Opera House once hosted a concert by him and he toured in the USA. One of his best traditional albums was "Fair Annie" (1983), re-released on CD in 2004. It is still baffling why he committed suicide in 1991.

"Wake The Vaulted Echoes" is a set of 3 CDs covering his whole career.

Discography

The Young Tradition - The Young Tradition (1966) - So Cheerfully Round (1967) - Galleries (1968)

The Young Tradition and Shirley and Dolly Collins - The Holly Bears The Crown (1969)

Louis Killen and Peter Bellamy - Won't You Go My Way? (1971)

Solo albums - Mainly Norfolk (1968) - Fair England's Shore (1968) - The Fox Jumped Over The Parson's Gate (1969) - Oak Ash and Thorn (1970) - Won't You Go My Way (1971) - Merlin's Island Of Gramarye (1972) - Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling (1975) - Peter Bellamy (1975) - Tell It Like It Was (1975) - Both Sides Then (1979) - Keep On Kipling (1982) - Fair Annie (1983) - Second Wind (1985) - Mr Kipling Made Exceedingly Good Songs (1989) - Soldiers Three (1990) - Songs and Rummy Conjurin' Tricks (1991)

Compilation - Wake The Vaulted Echoes

Various artists including Peter Bellamy - The Transports (1977)

"Friends of Peter Bellamy" - The Transports (2004)