Pay homage to your favourite singers / songwriters...

This is quite simple. Use your posts to pay tribute to some of your favourite singers and songwriters of all time, living or dead.

If you look closely at my avatar (EDIT: Not this one, that's Supergran, an old one), you'll see a lady leaning pensively on her guitar, in a tasteful and poignant black-and-white shot. For those of you who don't know, that lady is Kirsty MacColl.

Kirsty MacColl was sadly stolen from us in a tragedy which should never have happened. She was struck by a speedboat which was travelling illegally in an area reserved for scuba diving. The driver of the speedboat served a short sentence but was released, much to the disbelief of many.

But let's move away from the tragedy of Kirsty's death and focus instead on her musical life.

Kirsty MacColl remains a kind of musical 'hidden treasure'. Hugely influenced by the close harmonies of 60's music (often citing The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album in particular), Kirsty added her own wall of sound to her songs and her covers of other songs, carefully layering vocal harmonies to create a virtual 'Kirsty Choir' (As any fan will tell you, you can never have too much Kirsty!) and thus creating a truly distinctive sound.

Kirsty began her career as a singer named Mandy Doubt for the Band Drug Addix, recording on the Stiff label. The band was not well-received but Kirsty's obvious talent shone through and she was asked to give a demo of some of her own material. Her success as a solo artist - rather unjustly - would ebb and flow according to the whims of some record companies and the financial folding of others. Indeed, some of her goldmines of music would have been lost if not for fans. The album Titanic Days was poorly marketed and ill-promoted, yet it contains some of her sharpest observation and wit as well as some of her most moving writing.

When solo work was dry during the late 80s, Kirsty achieved success as a session musician, supporting bands such as The Happy Mondays, The Rolling Stones (she even had guitar lessons with Keith Richards), The Smiths and The Pogues, to name but a few. Sessions with Johnny Marr and Pete Glenister resulted in her recording songs for them.

Much of Kirsty's appeal comes from her attitude towards life and what we do with it. She has no sympathy for simpering women or duplicitous men, fickle fashion victims or scheming yuppies:

"There's a brand new car in your driveway
And a blonde new girl in your bed
You've everything you ever wished for
Happy little bubblehead.
And you can't fill it up with promises
And you can't fill it up with lies,
And you can't fill it up with business lunches,
Oh, but you can try..."


Although a devotee of 60's close harmony, Kirsty was not afraid to move with the times, embracing new musical technologies as well as musical devices from other cultures. In later life, the influence of Cuban music was immensely strong. A particular example of this emerges in her swansong album, Tropical Brainstorm, released shortly before her death in 2000.

To those new to Kirsty's work, I recommend the Anthology From Croydon To Cuba, as it charts Kirsty's musical life beautifully. I surmise that it was difficult to know what to leave out from this excellent Kirstyfest of an album.

If only England realised what it has lost in such a talented musician and observer of life.