Bridget Wishart (born 25 February 1962) is an English vocalist, musician and performance artist. She was a member of English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

from 1989 to 1991. Wishart was the first woman to sing lead vocals in Hawkwind, and is the band's only singing frontwoman in their history. She is an ongoing member of Spirits Burning (since 2007), and the Chumley Warner Brothers live duo (with partner Martin Plumley).

Early years

Most of the bands that Wishart played with prior to Hawkwind were located around

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. Her first band was The Demented Stoats in 1979 with future Hawkwind drummer Richard Chadwick and guitarist Steve Bemand, followed by Next Years Big Thing, and then the Hippy Slags. Wishart was later in two other bands with Chadwick and Bemand: Pilwind, and Star Nation.

With Hawkwind

In 1989, Wishart started to perform with Hawkwind, alongside

Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the founder, the sole constant member and the musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

– Dave Brock biography Brock w ...

, keyboardist

Harvey Bainbridge Harvey Frederick Bainbridge (born 24 September 1949, Dorset) is an English bass and keyboard player. He is best known as the bass player and keyboard player in Hawkwind. Career Bainbridge's first musical group was when he was at school. A gr ...

, bassist Alan Davey, drummer Richard Chadwick, and

Simon House Simon House (29 August 1948 – 25 May 2025) was an English composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. Career Before his time with Hawkwind, House played in H ...

on violin. Wishart's role included singing vocals for studio and live songs, and donning costumes and doing mime to enhance songs in the live setting. This line-up of Hawkwind produced two albums, 1990's Space Bandits and 1991's Palace Springs. Space Bandits spent one week on the

UK albums chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

at #70. Wishart shared writing credits with Brock and Davey on Space Bandits' opening song, titled "Images." Wishart also shared writing credits with Bainbridge, Brock, and Davey on Palace Springs' ''Back In The Box.'' This line-up also filmed a 1-hour appearance for the '' Bedrock TV'' series, later released as the video '' Nottingham 1990''. 1990 saw Hawkwind with Wishart tour the US, the second installment in a series of American visits made at around this time in an effort to re-establish the Hawkwind brand in America. After a European tour in March and April 1991 (with Steve Bemand filling in for Dave Brock), Wishart ended her association with the group.

With Spirits Burning

Wishart returned to music in 2007, accepting an invite from

Don Falcone Don Falcone (born November 5, 1958) is an American producer and multi-instrumentalist, and the guiding light behind the Spirits Burning space-rock collective. In Spirits Burning and other offshoot bands and projects, his primary collaborations ...

of Spirits Burning. Since 2007, Wishart and Don Falcone have collaborated in Spirits Burning (including CDs released under the name Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart). Wishart and Falcone also have an instrumental project called Astralfish. In 2017, Wishart performed live with Spirits Burning, alongside Steve Bemand, Richard Chadwick, Kev Ellis, Don Falcone, Colin Kafka, and Martin Plumley. Wishart sang and played EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument).

With other bands

Wishart has contributed vocals and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) to albums by other bands in the space rock, new music, and experimental community, including: Djinn and Hawkestrel (both with former Hawkwind bass player Alan Davey), Astralfish, Bridget Wishart & The Band of Doctors, Hola One with Bridget Wishart, Karda Estra, Mooch, Omenopus, Osiris the Rebirth, and Spaceseed. Wishart still performs live, as a member of the Chumley Warner Brothers live duo (with partner Martin Plumley).

Discography

With Hawkwind

* 1990: '' Space Bandits'' * 1991: '' Palace Springs'' * 1992: '' California Brainstorm'' * 1994: ''Live Legends'' * 1994: ''25 Years On'' * 2002: ''Live in Nottingham 1990'' * 2005: '' Glastonbury 90'' * 2008: '' The Dream Goes On: From the Black Sword to Distant Horizons'' * 2009: ''Treworgey Tree Festival 1989'' * 2009: ''USA Tour 1989-1990''

With Spirits Burning

* 2008: ''Alien Injection'' * 2008: ''Earth Born'' (by Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart) * 2009: ''Our Best Trips: 1998 to 2008'' * 2009: ''Bloodlines'' (by Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart) * 2010: ''Crazy Fluid'' * 2011: ''Behold The Action Man'' * 2013: ''Healthy Music In Large Doses'' (by Spirits Burning & Clearlight) * 2014: ''Make Believe It Real'' (by Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart) * 2015: ''Starhawk'' * 2016: ''The Roadmap In Your Head'' (by Spirits Burning & Clearlight) * 2017: ''"The Roadmap In Your Heart"'' b/w "Another Roadmap In Your Head" and "An Ambient Heat" (by Spirits Burning &

Daevid Allen Christopher David "Daevid" Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015) was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong (band), Gong (in France, 1967).McFarlane, 1999, Biograp ...

) * 2018: ''An Alien Heat'' (by Spirits Burning &

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

) * 2020: ''The Hollow Lands'' (by Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock) * 2021: ''Evolution Ritual''

With other bands and projects

Astralfish * 2012: ''Far Corners'' Bridget Wishart & The Band of Doctors * 2020: ''Ghost'' Hawkestrel * 2019: ''The Future Is Us'' Omenopus ** 2010: ''Portents'' (Sampler) ** 2010: ''Time Flies'' ** 2011: ''Allies & Clansmen'' (Multi-artist compilation featuring Omenopus song "Call Your Name") ** 2012: ''The Plague / Scars'' ** 2012: ''Allies & Clansmen: The Next Descendant'' (Multi-artist compilation featuring Omenopus song "Brick by Stone") ** 2014: ''The Archives'' ** 2014: ''The Omenopus Compendium Of Souvenirs'' (Sampler)

Personal life

Prior to recording music professionally, Wishart obtained a BA in Fine Art from Newport Art School and an MFA from

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

. She became a fellow of Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology, and taught ceramic sculpture at

Prior Park College Prior Park College is a co-educational public school for both boarding and day pupils in Bath, south-west England. Its main building, Prior Park, stands on a hill overlooking the city and is a Grade I listed building. The adjoining Prior P ...

. In the 1990s, she was an artist designer and painter for Temple Decor, a UV design company used by

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wishart, Bridget 1962 births Living people Musicians from Plymouth, Devon English rock singers 20th-century English women singers 20th-century English singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers English rock saxophonists Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of the University of Reading Alumni of the University of Gloucestershire Hawkwind members 20th-century British saxophonists 21st-century British saxophonists 20th-century women musicians 21st-century women musicians