Tim Hart
Encyclopedia
Tim Hart was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 folk singer
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of electric folk
Electric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...

 band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

.

Early years

Tim Hart was born in Lincoln. His father, Rev. Canon Dennis Hart, was the vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of St Saviour's in St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

. Hart began his life as a musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 performing with the Rattfinks, St Albans School
St Albans School (Hertfordshire)
St Albans School is an independent school in the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Entry before Sixth Form is for boys only, and co-educational thereafter. Founded in 948 by Wulsin , St Albans School is not only the oldest school in Hertfordshire but also one of the oldest...

's second band, the first being The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...

. In 1966, he began performing with the Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

 born Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

, touring English folk clubs. In 1968 and 1969 the duo
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 recorded two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s: Folk Songs of Olde England, (Volumes One and Two).

Steeleye Span

From 1970 to 1982, Hart and Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

 were the backbone of Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

. Hart's contribution to the band demonstrated his musical abilities on a wide range of instruments, some electronic, including: acoustic guitars, dulcimer, organ, 5 string banjo, mandolin, bells, tabor and spoons as well as vocals.

In 1971, as well as recording two albums as part of Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

, they recorded Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice (album)
Summer Solstice is a 1971 album by Maddy Prior and Tim Hart. The album was recorded after the duo had joined Steeleye Span. The songs are mostly pastoral, with subtle understated instrumental accompaniment. Also issued on CD in 1991 on the Shanachie label...

- a much more professional recording than their first two albums, including a string arrangement by Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby was a British born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He is best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but has also worked with Elton John, Ralph McTell, Strawbs, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello.-At Cambridge:Patrick...

, better known for his work with Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...

. Almost every song that Hart sang was traditional. Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

's commercial success peaked in 1975. They toured in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and used electric instruments more frequently. However, further hits eluded them. They announced that their 1978 tour of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 would be their farewell, although they have in fact continued recording and performing live to this day.

The fragmentation

Hart took this opportunity to release a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Tim Hart, in 1979. Steeleye Span members Maddy Prior, Rick Kemp, and Nigel Pegrum contributed vocals, bass, drums, and percussion. Bob Johnson
Bob Johnson (musician)
Robert "Bob" Johnson is a British guitarist formerly in the electric folk band Steeleye Span from 1972–77 and again from 1980-2001....

 and Peter Knight recorded a narrative project in 1977 The King of Elfland's Daughter
The King of Elfland's Daughter (album)
The King of Elfland's Daughter is a concept album by former Steeleye Span members Bob Johnson and Peter Knight. It was based on the 1924 fantasy novel of the same name by Lord Dunsany and recorded and released in 1977...

. Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

 outdid them all by producing two solo albums in 1978, Woman in the Wings and Changing Winds, that included her own compositions. Hart appeared on one more Steeleye Span record, Sails of Silver
Sails of Silver
Sails of Silver is an album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span.The album was produced two years after the band's ostensible break-up, at the request of Chrysalis Records. Peter Knight and Bob Johnson both returned, replacing their own replacements Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick, who had...

, before resigning in 1982. His last gig was at the Theatre Royal, Norwich
Theatre Royal, Norwich
The Theatre Royal is the largest theatre in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It presents a large range of drama, dance, comedy, music and other entertainment...

.

In 1981 Hart released two albums of nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

s originally written for his own children on the Music for Pleasure
Music for Pleasure (record label)
Music for Pleasure was a record label that issued budget-priced albums of popular and classical music, although the latter were marketed under the Classics for Pleasure name...

 label. He used most of Steeleye Span, and other musicians who had small children and could take the project seriously. In a bold move, he became a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 for a rock band, The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set are an English post-punk band originally formed in 1978 from the remnants of a college group called The B-Sides...

. Their album Eligible Bachelors was a whimsical cynical view of relations between the sexes.

Hart's health seriously declined, and in 1988 he emigrated to La Gomera
La Gomera
La Gomera is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. In area, it is the second-smallest of the seven main islands of this group.- Political organization :...

, a small island in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

. Abandoning music altogether, he became full time writer and photographer, married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 again, built himself a house on the side of a mountain, and restored his health. As there was no guidebook to La Gomera available in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Hart wrote, and took most of the photographs for, La Gomera: A Guide to the Unspoiled Canary Island (2004).

The Journey

In 1995, Hart was persuaded to return to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 for a five-hour marathon performance. It was a concert in aid of the charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 War Child
War Child (charity)
War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...

, and featured almost every member of Steeleye Span. A recording of the concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

, The Journey did not appear until 1999. For many years he did not perform outside of La Gomera. However, Hart performed with Maddy Prior as part of the BBC Electric Proms
BBC Electric Proms
The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006-2010...

 on 23 October 2008.

Illness and death

In December 2008, Hart was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

, and returned to England with his wife Conny to seek continuing medical treatment. It was announced during Steeleye Span's 2009 winter tour that Park Records
Park Records
Park Records is a British record label, based in Oxford, specialising in folk rock and AOR music.The company began in 1990, with singles and albums by Maddy Prior but have grown to include Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Capercaillie, Moonshee and others....

 would be reissuing Hart's recordings of nursery rhymes in order to support him through his illness. He and his wife returned to their home in La Gomera in early December 2009, where he died peacefully in the early morning of 24 December 2009, aged 61. He was cremated at a private ceremony with half of his ashes being scattered over La Gomera, and the other half being returned to his family plot in St. Albans.

Discography

Tim Hart and Maddy Prior
  • Folk Songs of Olde England Vol. 1 (1968)
  • Folk Songs of Olde England Vol. 2 (1968)
  • Summer Solstice
    Summer Solstice (album)
    Summer Solstice is a 1971 album by Maddy Prior and Tim Hart. The album was recorded after the duo had joined Steeleye Span. The songs are mostly pastoral, with subtle understated instrumental accompaniment. Also issued on CD in 1991 on the Shanachie label...

    (1971)

The above three albums were reissued in 2003 as "Heydays" a double CD

Tim Hart
  • Tim Hart (1979) Chrysalis CHR 1218


Tim Hart and Friends
  • My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record
    My Very Favourite Nursery Rhymes
    My Very Favourite Nursery Rhymes is an album by Tim Hart and Friends.By 1981 both Tim Hart and Maddy Prior had children, so it was appropriate to create an album of children's songs. The treatment is very light and poppy. The clever use of synthesisers makes it seems as if there is a whole...

    (1981)
  • The Drunken Sailor and other Kids Songs (1983)

The above two albums were reissued twice:
  • As "Favourite Childrens Songs" - two vinyl discs held in a single sleeve
  • in 2010 as "My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record " a double CD
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