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Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins (born 7 July 1980) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band Guillemots.


Early life

Born in
Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...
, Birmingham, in 1980, he moved to
Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...
at the age of eight. He studied at
Bromsgrove School Bromsgrove School is a co-educational boarding and day school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, England. Founded in 1553, it is one of the oldest public schools in Britain, and one of the 14 founding members of the Headmasters' Confer ...
where he was also the singer in the band Their Senseless Prayer. He was also a music teacher at Cranbrook College for a brief period.


Career


Compositions

Dangerfield composed a choral piece performed at The Lichfield Festival in 2000 – a setting of
Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...
's "A Better Resurrection". This led to a commission from
Ex Cathedra Papal infallibility is a Dogma in the Catholic Church, dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Saint Peter, Peter, the Pope when he speaks is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "in ...
Chamber Choir to write a choral setting of one of the '
O Antiphons The O Antiphons (also known as the Great Advent Antiphons or Great Os) are antiphons used at Vespers during the Magnificat on the last seven days of Advent in Western Christianity, Western Christian traditions. They likely date to sixth-century I ...
' for Ex Cathedra's Christmas Music by Candlelight concert in 2000. This has been performed many times since, was included on Ex Cathedra's Christmas Music by Candlelight CD which received some glowing reviews, and has been broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
and Classic FM. In 2002, Dangerfield was commissioned to write "A Stray Dog for Congratulations" – for three children's choirs, four percussionists, two pianists and keyboard – for The Lichfield Festival (the only commission that year). The performers included the Backbeat percussion ensemble, as well as the Sydney Children's choir. In 2007, Dangerfield was commissioned by the John Feeney Charitable Trust to write a piece for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) for one of the concerts that took place in October 2007 to celebrate the re-opening of
Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It no ...
. This was ''In Wait'', a 30-minute orchestral composition, performed by cellist Eduardo Vassallo and the CBSO conducted by Nick Ingman. The second half of the concert was given by Guillemots accompanied by the CBSO. In 2009, cellist
Natalie Clein Natalie Clein (born Poole, Dorset) is a British classical cellist. Her mother is a professional violinist. Her sister is the actress Louisa Clein. Early life and education Clein started playing the cello at the age of six, and attended Tal ...
performed the world première of a new work by Dangerfield called "Eggshell Walker" at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Dangerfield has since written two further works for Natalie Clein – "Pogo and the Cage" in 2010, and "Turquoise Black", which she premièred at the 2011 Bath Festival – a performance also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in June 2011. He composed music for the play, ''Howl's Moving Castle'', based on the novel by
Diana Wynne Jones Diana Wynne Jones (16 August 1934 – 26 March 2011) was a British novelist, poet, academic, literary critic, and short story writer. She principally wrote fantasy and speculative fiction novels for children and young adults. Although usually d ...
, which was performed in London at Southwark Playhouse in the winter 2011 – 2012.


Guillemots


Other bands

Prior to Guillemots, Dangerfield played in Senseless Prayer (who played a radio session on the late
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
's show), Fyfe Dangerfield and The Accident, and The Courtesy Group (the band of his brother, Al Hutchins) who have supported Guillemots several times on tour. Dangerfield contributes to the band's debut album, ''Tradesman's Entrance''. Dangerfield recently contributed a cover of Larrikin Love's "Well, Love Does Furnish a Life" to their EP ''A Day in the Life''. In late 2006, Fyfe released a very limited split vinyl single with his friends The Kittens, on which he contributed a demo of a solo song, "Delusia". This took place shortly before he played two solo shows (albeit, mostly consisting of solo renditions of Guillemots songs) in Birmingham and London, with support from Richard Burke, Emmy the Great, and Fyfe's older brother, Al. In 2007 he sang "Lovers' Dream" with
Anna Ternheim Anna Ternheim (born 31 May 1978) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Early life Ternheim was born 31 May 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden. When she was 10 years old she began playing the guitar, writing songs and performing. During a year abroad in Atlant ...
on her EP, Lovers Dream and More Music For Psychotic Lovers. Dangerfield also leads an improvising group Gannets (sometimes written as gaNNets). The members are Dangerfield on keyboards, Alex Ward and Christopher Cundy clarinets, Dominic Lash double bass, and Steve Noble drums. The band appeared on
BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
's "Jazz on 3" in March 2008, and at the London Jazz Festival in November 2011, the latter session also being subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Gannets played a ten-date tour of England in January–February 2012.


Solo artist

Dangerfield released the album '' Fly Yellow Moon'' under his own name on 18 January 2010. The album's first track "When You Walk in the Room" was the single of the week on iTunes in the week starting 15 March 2010. A TV commercial for the British chain store
John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
, first broadcast in April 2010, features Dangerfield singing the
Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...
song " She's Always a Woman". In 2011, a portrait of Dangerfield was painted by British artist Joe Simpson, the painting was exhibited around the UK including a solo exhibition at The Royal Albert Hall. In 2015, he produced on Slow Moving Millie's classical instrumental EP, Arms. On 21 September 2018, Dangerfield launched www.channelsmaychange.com - his new online channel, playground & home. One week later, on 28 September 2018, Dangerfield began broadcasting the series "Birdwatcher", a surreal mix of music, songs, sounds & characters, split into 12 weekly episodes, each put together in frantic real-time in the days ahead of transmission. The entirety of Birdwatcher is available to stream & download for free via the channel, along with accompanying "menus" for each Episode. In 2021, "Woah! Life" (his first new single since Guillemots released "Fleet" in 2012) was issued by The state51 Conspiracy and was the first track from the "Birdwatcher" EP released in March. In February 2023, Dangerfield released a new single and accompanying music video "Shook" via his Channels May Change website. In April 2023, Dangerfield released another new single and music video entitled "The Zebra Wind".


TV appearances

On 14 February 2007, he made an appearance on episode 20x03 of ''
Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...
'' (when Preston of
The Ordinary Boys The Ordinary Boys are an English pop band from Worthing, West Sussex. Originally named Next in Line, they are influenced by punk rock and Britpop music. Their name derives from a Morrissey song, "The Ordinary Boys". The membership of the band ...
walked off the show), on
Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom '' Black Books'' (2000–2004), and for his regula ...
's team. On 21 June 2011, he performed on episode 07x11 of the '' Graham Norton Show''. On 11 June 2015 he was a guest on BBC's '' Springwatch Unsprung'', earning high praise from Chris Packham for his photograph taken on the RSPB Minsmere reserve, and performing "We're Here".


Discography


Albums


Singles


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dangerfield, Fyfe 1980 births Living people Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at Bromsgrove School British composers English male songwriters English pop pianists English rock guitarists English male guitarists English male singers Guillemots (band) members British male pianists