Kenny Craddock was an instrumentalist, composer and producer. Throughout his career he worked with artists including Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

, Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...

, Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg

Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...

, Gerry Rafferty

Gerry Rafferty

Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...

 and Alan White

Alan White (Yes drummer)

Alan White is an English rock drummer known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes. White was also a member of the Plastic Ono Band, playing live in 1969 at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, which was recorded and released three months later as Live Peace in Toronto 1969...

. He collaborated with Alan Hull

Alan Hull

Alan Hull was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band, Lindisfarne.-Career:...

 and Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne (band)

Lindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...

, joining the band in 1973 and remaining with them until their temporary split in 1975, and acted as musical director for Van Morrison

Van Morrison

Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...

 and Mary Black

Mary Black

Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....

.

Craddock began touring with Van Morrison in the early 1980s, playing keyboards until around 1985. Craddock, though, had a written a song based upon a W.B. Yeats poem called "Before the World", which Morrison said he would like to record. "Before the World Was Made" was adapted by Morrison with music by Craddock, and appeared on the 1993 album Too Long in Exile

Too Long in Exile

Too Long in Exile is the twenty-second album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1993 . It was one of Morrison's most commercially successful albums in years, due in part to a cover of "Gloria", one of his own songs originally recorded by Them...

.

In the nineties, he provided, with Colin Gibson

Colin Gibson (musician)

Colin Gibson is a bass player and composer.-Biography:Gibson and guitarist John Turnbull were childhood friends and played together in a band called The Primitive Sect, wth Bob Sergeant on organ. In summer 1966, Gibson and Turnbull joined unsigned, Newcastle band The Chosen Few...

, the incidental music to Steven Moffat

Steven Moffat

Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...

's sitcom Joking Apart

Joking Apart

Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced...

. Craddock himself performed the show's theme song, a cover version of Chris Rea

Chris Rea

Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...

's "Fool (If You Think It's Over)

Fool (If You Think It's Over)

"Fool " is the title of a popular song from 1978 by the British singer-songwriter Chris Rea. Rea also wrote the song, which appears on his 1978 debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?....

". Around this time, Craddock toured with Paul Brady

Paul Brady

Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age...

.

Craddock moved to Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

in 2001, where he died in a car crash after completing his first solo album, Mad as the Mist and Snow.

External links