Jaki Whitren (also Jacky Whitren, 1954 – November 24, 2016) was a British singer-songwriter. In 1973 ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'' called her "Britain's first serious contender to the contemporary rock/ folk throne currently occupied by

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

and

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

Early life

Born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, her mother was a trained concert pianist and singer who later turned towards jazz. By the age of 13 Jaki Whitren was singing in local clubs around the Southampton area. In 1972 she was approached by the Columbia label and flown to New York to record an album. However, uncomfortable with the more commercial direction in which they were trying to push her, she returned to the UK, and signed up with April Music Ltd and

CBS Records International CBS Records International was the international arm of the Columbia Records unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. ( CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture a ...

.Interview with Jaki Whitren
(2006, Sunbeam Records)

''Raw But Tender''

Her debut album ''Raw But Tender'' (1973) was recorded at Nova Sound Studios in the UK for

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

when she was 19 years old, using the folk-blues idiom she was more accustomed to. Along with the vocals Whitren also played guitar and banjo. The album was produced by

Mick Glossop Mick Glossop is an English record producer and recording engineer best known for long-term collaboration with Van Morrison, as well as his work with Frank Zappa, The Waterboys, The Wonder Stuff, Public Image, LLoyd Cole and others, as well as bein ...

and Stuart Cowell, with

Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...

Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

guitar,Derek Watts
''Country Boy: A Biography of Albert Lee'' (2010), p. 120
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Marie Goossens Marie Henriette Goossens OBE (11 August 1894 – 18 December 1991) was an English harpist, a member of the famous Goossens musical family. Her father was the conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens, and her younger sister Sidonie Goossens wa ...

on harp,

Frank Ricotti Frank E. Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Frank E. Ricotti was born in St Pancras, London, England; his father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National ...

(percussion), and Pat Donaldson (bass) and

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...

(drums) from

Fotheringay Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer-songwriter and musician Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition " Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay C ...

among the session musicians. It featured the autobiographical single "Give Her The Day", about her father's early death and her mother's emigration to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, which received some airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

but did not chart. A follow-up single, "Human Failure", also failed to chart. ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'' called the album "one of the most impressive debuts of the time". Whitren agreed to a television appearance on ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music series broadcast by the BBC. It was devised by producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough, and aired on BBC2 from ...

'', and gigged in support of the album for a year, joining tours with John McLaughlin,

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

, Loudon Wainwright and others, and one-off shows with

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

and Roy Harper. She also played at

the Marquee The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End. It was the location of the first live performance b ...

with

Joan Armatrading Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (, born 9 December 1950) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, '' Joan Armatrading'' (1976) and '' Show Some Emotion'' (1977), a ...

. But she refused most other offers, seemingly not interested in mainstream commercial success, and stepped back from the business for the next two-and-a-half years.

Later career

Whitren continued to sing and record, but only on her own terms. In 1977 she contributed to

the Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

's release '' I Robot'', including the lead vocal on the song "Some Other Time". In later years, she concentrated on her personal and musical relationship with husband and fellow musician John Cartwright, a Southampton-based pianist and session musician who played with the Jess Roden Band in the 1970s, in a more jazz and soul direction. They became closely associated with the

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

music and arts scenes at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

(Dove Studios, The Phoenix Project) from the late 1970s, with the rural commune at Clos du Pont in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in the 1980s and afterwards, and with the

Findhorn Community Findhorn Ecovillage, known in the past as the Findhorn Community, and also referred to as Ecovillage Findhorn, is an experimental and utopian community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn focused on ecol ...

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

, Scotland. In 1992 she performed on the album ''La Source'' by the French band Minimum Vital. Court of Miracles was a family band featuring Whitren, Cartright and their two sons, Joby and William. Whitren's only other solo album was ''Isis Unveiled'', self-released in 2007, showing the continuing influence of

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

. She died of cancer in November 2016, two weeks after the death of John Cartwright from a heart attack. Her son Joby Baker is a musician, songwriter and record producer who now runs a recording studio in Canada.

Discography

* Jaki Whitren – ''Raw But Tender'' (Epic, 1973) * Jaki Whitren & John Cartwright – ''Rhythm Hymn'' (Elektra, 1982) * Jaki Whitren & John Cartwright – ''International Times'' (Living, 1983, reissued Emotional Rescue, 2012) * Court of Miracles (featuring Jaki Whitren & John Cartwright) – ''Miracle Style'' (ACT, 1997) * Jaki Whitren – ''Isis Unveiled'' (self released, 2007) Contributions * on

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

- '' I Robot'' (1977) * on Minimum Vital – ''La Source'' (1992)

References

External links

'Give Her the Day' (from ''Raw But Tender'' 1973)

'This Time' (from ''International Times'', recorded at Glastonbury Hall, 1983)

'Water of Life' from ''Isis Unveiled''
Phoenix Project, Glastonbury, September 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitren, Jaki 1954 births 2016 deaths British folk singers British women folk singers British blues singers British banjoists British women pop singers British jazz singers British women jazz singers British rock singers British women rock singers Place of birth missing (living people)