Austin John Marshall (30 March 1937 – 3 November 2013) was an English

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, songwriter, poet and

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

, most notable for his work in developing

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Writer

Karl Dallas Karl Frederick Dallas (29 January 1931 – 21 June 2016) Karl Dallas blog
Retrieved 2 July 2013 was a B ...

described him as "one of the great unsung pioneers of contemporary British folk song". From 1961 to 1970 he was married to English folk singer

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

Biography

He was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. His father, an RAF pilot, died in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and he was educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

school in

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. He studied at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

, becoming a

whose work was published in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' and elsewhere. Robin Denselow, "Obituary: Austin John Marshall"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 14 November 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013Dave Thompson, "Austin John Marshall – remembering the Phil Spector of Folk Rock", ''Goldmine'', 8 November 2013
Goldminemag.com, Retrieved 19 November 2013 In 1960 he met the singer

when he was designing the cover for the compilation album ''Rocket Along'', a collection of

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s in which she was featured; they married the following year. Marshall continued to work at ''The Observer'', and began taking an interest in traditional music. In 1964 he arranged for Collins to work with innovative guitarist

Davy Graham David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham (originally spelled Davy Graham) (26 November 1940 – 15 December 2008) was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners ...

on their joint album ''

Folk Roots, New Routes ''Folk Roots, New Routes'' is a collaborative folk album by Shirley Collins and Davy Graham, released by Decca in 1964. The album was produced by Ray Horricks and recorded by Gus Dudgeon; the sleeve featured a photograph by Crispian Woodgate and ...

'', conceiving the album's approach and writing its

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

. He then worked as a record producer, art director and songwriter on Collins' albums ''The Sweet Primeroses'' (1967), '' The Power of the True Love Knot'' (1968), ''

Anthems in Eden ''Anthems in Eden'' is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus seven other individual pieces performed by ...

'' (1969), and ''

Love, Death and the Lady ''Love, Death and the Lady'' is an album by Shirley Collins, Shirley and Dolly Collins. This is a companion-piece to ''Anthems In Eden'' (1969), but with a darker tone to it. She attributes the 'melancholy' mood of the album to her own personal ...

'' (1970), on some of which Collins sang with her sister Dolly. He also wrote lyrics for the song "Dancing At Whitsun", first published by Dallas and sung by Collins on ''Anthems in Eden'' and later covered by

Tim Hart Tim Hart (9 January 1948 – 24 December 2009) was an English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Early years Tim Hart was born in Lincoln, England, but moved to St A ...

on the 1971 album ''

Summer Solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

''. He and Collins divorced in 1970, but he continued to work both as a producer and graphic designer with other performers including the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

bands The Wooden O and

Spirogyra ''Spirogyra'' (common names include water silk, mermaid's tresses, and blanket weed) is a genus of filamentous charophyte green algae of the order Zygnematales, named for the helical or spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts that is charact ...

, and singer-songwriter

Steve Ashley Steve Frank Ashley (born 9 March 1946) is an English singer-songwriter, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, writer and graphic designer. Ashley is best known as a songwriter and first gained public recognition for his work with his debut s ...

. He also launched ambitious film projects, working on the film of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

's '' Rainbow Bridge'' concert, where he applied

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

techniques to the video image "with results that have never been equalled"; and on the

Incredible String Band Incredible may refer to: Music Albums * ''Incredible'' (Clique Girlz album) or the title song, 2008 * ''Incredible'' (Gary Puckett & The Union Gap album), 1968 * ''Incredible'' (Ilse DeLange album), 2008 * ''Incredible'' (Mary Mary album) or ...

's film '' Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending''. He started a short-lived record label, Streetsong, where he recorded

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle (band), Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and ...

. He also tried to launch an experimental anti-war folk musical, ''Smudge'', reflecting on the effects of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

on English society. He moved to New York City in 1981, establishing himself on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. ''The Coop: The Fast Folk Musical Magazine'', June 1982, p. 14
Media.smithsonianfolkways.org There, his ''Smudge'' project was eventually performed several times in the 1980s. He became a performance poet using the name John the Angel Fish, and became known for his

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s. He was married and divorced three times, and had two children. In later years he suffered from

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

and

chronic pulmonary disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bron ...

. He died in New York in 2013 at the age of 76. Writer

Karl Dallas Karl Frederick Dallas (29 January 1931 – 21 June 2016) Karl Dallas blog
Retrieved 2 July 2013 was a B ...

described him as "one of the great unsung pioneers of contemporary British folk song".RIP Austin John Marshall
Karldallasday.wordpress.com, Retrieved 19 November 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Austin John 1937 births 2013 deaths People from Leicester Alumni of the London College of Printing Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art People educated at Christ's Hospital English graphic designers English record producers British album-cover and concert-poster artists 20th-century British businesspeople