Kenny Craddock (18 April 1950 – 30 May 2002) was a British musician, composer, and producer. Throughout his career he worked with artists including

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in the ...

and Alan White. He collaborated with

Alan Hull James Alan Hull (20 February 1945 – 17 November 1995) was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band Lindisfarne. Career James Alan Hull was born on Tuesday, 20 February 1945 at 68 Sutton's Dwellings, Adel ...

and

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

, joining the band in 1973 and remaining with them until their temporary split in 1975, and acted as musical director for

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 ...

and

Mary Black Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland. Background Mary Black was born into a m ...

. He performed using a variety of instruments on Alan Hull's 1979 solo album '' Phantoms''. Craddock began touring with Van Morrison in the early 1980s, playing keyboards until around 1985. Craddock, though, had written a song based upon a

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

poem called "Before the World", which Morrison said he would like to record. "Before the World Was Made" was adapted by Morrison with music by Craddock, and appeared on the 1993 album '' Too Long in Exile''. In the 1990s, he provided, with Colin Gibson, the incidental music to

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as the second showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi television ser ...

's sitcom '' Joking Apart''. Craddock himself performed the show's theme song, a cover version of

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is a British Rock music, rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty-five studio albums, ...

's "

Fool (If You Think It's Over) "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" is a song written and originally released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea. It appears on his debut album, '' Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?'', and peaked at number 12 in the US, becoming his hi ...

". Around this time, Craddock toured with

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

. Craddock moved to Portugal in 2001, where he died in a car crash after completing his first solo album, ''Mad as the Mist and Snow''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craddock, Kenny 1950 births 2002 deaths English composers English folk musicians English rock musicians English record producers Musicians from Gateshead Road incident deaths in Portugal Lindisfarne (band) members