Nancy Kerr (; born 1975) is an

English folk music The folk music of England is a tradition-based music which has existed since the later medieval period. It is often contrasted with courtly, classical music, classical and later commercial music. Folk music traditionally was preserved and List o ...

ian and songwriter, specialising in the

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

and

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. She is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

. She was the 2015

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British rad ...

"Folk Singer of the Year". Born in London, she now lives in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Early life

Kerr is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter

Sandra Kerr Sandra Kerr (born 14 February 1942, Plaistow, Newham, Essex) is an English folk singer. Kerr sings and plays Concertina#German concertinas, English concertina, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp. She was a member of The Critics Group fr ...

and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott.

Career

Kerr came to prominence in the early 1990s via a musical partnership with fellow fiddle player

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. Life and career Carthy was born i ...

. The duo produced two albums – ''Eliza Carthy & Nancy Kerr'' (1993) and ''Shape of Scrape'' (1995) – before ceasing to work together.Mrs Casey recordings A retrospective collection of their work (plus three previously unreleased tracks) – ''On Reflection'' – was released in 2002. Kerr and her mother released an album together – ''Neat and Complete'' – in 1996. Since 1995, Kerr has worked extensively with Australian

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

player and singer James Fagan, whom she married in 2007. The duo won the Horizon Award at the inaugural

in 2000, and Best Duo at the same awards in both 2003 and 2011.BBC Folk Awards, 2000, 2003, 2011 Between 1997 and 2008 they released six albums on the Fellside label – ''Starry Gazy Pie'', ''Scalene'' (with Sandra Kerr), ''Steely Water'', ''Between The Dark and Light'', ''Strands of Gold'' and ''Station House'' (with Robert Harbron). The album ''Station House'' was the result of a collaboration with concertina player Robert Harbron to form the trio ''Kerr Fagan Harbron''. In 2010 Kerr and Fagan produced their first completely original collection of songs – ''Twice Reflected Sun''. The first track of the album, ''Queen of Waters'', was nominated for the "Best Original Song" category at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2011. Kerr has also worked with a number of groups, including folk/pop group ''Epona'', Australian folk family band ''The Fagans'' and the ''

Tim van Eyken Tim van Eyken (born 7 March 1978) is an English actor, singer, melodeon player and guitarist. Career Van Eyken first started playing penny whistle after seeing James Galway on television. He graduated to playing for his mother, then a member ...

band''. In 2010 she joined James Fagan, Richard Arrowsmith and Jess Arrowsmith to form ''Melrose Quartet'' in her new home city of Sheffield. They released a live EP in 2011 called ''Live at Cheltenham'' and two studio albums: ''Fifty Verses'' in 2013 and ''Dominion'' in 2017. She has also performed in the trio ''Simpson Cutting Kerr'', with

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

and

Andy Cutting Andy Cutting (born 18 March 1969) is an English folk musician and composer. He plays Diatonic button accordion, melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional Folk music of England, English folk and his own original compositi ...

, whose debut CD ''Murmurs'' was released on Topic Records on 8 June 2015. Kerr has been involved in several commissioned works. In 2013 she was part of Fay Hield's ''The Full English'' band to promote the on-line publication of the folk collections of the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodi ...

in Cecil Sharp House. The collective won "Best Group" at the 2014

and their CD ''The Full English'' won "Best Album" at the same ceremony. In 2014 Kerr was a key songwriter in ''The Elizabethan Session,'' a concert, CD and film commissioned by Folk by the Oak and The

English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

creating new music about the Elizabethan era. In November 2015, Kerr was one of four songwriters commissioned by Folk by the Oak and The

to write and tour a production called ''Sweet Liberties'' looking at the history of British parliament and democracy. Their CD ''Sweet Liberties'' was released in 2016. In 2017 and 2018 Kerr was one of five musicians who formed ''Shake the Chains,'' a project that explored "the role songs have played in social change, resistance and protest". The project was commissioned by Folk by the Oak and supported by

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, Help Musicians and Folk Alliance. The group toured in 2017 and 2018, and made a live album in 2017. In 2014, Kerr released ''

Sweet Visitor ''Sweet Visitor'' is an album by the English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nancy Kerr, which was released by Little Dish Records in 2014. Allmusic Review: ''Sweet Visitor''accessed 1 March 2015. Reception In a review of ''Sweet Vi ...

,'' her first CD of original songs under her own name, on her own label Little Dish Records. The album's release on 21 July 2014 was followed by a UK tour with ''The Sweet Visitor Band'' (James Fagan, Rowan Rheingans, Tom Wright and Tim Yates) in November. James Fagan now shares his role in the band with Greg Russell. 2016 saw the production of Kerr's second album of original songs with ''The Sweet Visitor Band'' on Little Dish Records. The album, entitled ''Instar'', was produced by Tom Wright and was released on 16 September 2016. In 2017 and 2018, Kerr played the Mother in a production of

Peter Bellamy Peter Franklyn Bellamy (8 September 1944 – 24 September 1991) was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition and also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. H ...

's folk opera

The Transports ''The Transports'' is a folk ballad opera written by Peter Bellamy released by Free Reed Records in 1977. It is often cited as Bellamy's greatest achievement. It featured many artists from the 1970s English folk revival, including The Waterso ...

. Having previously taught on the Newcastle University Folk Degree, Kerr is now a Principal Lecturer and Voice & Fiddle Tutor at

Leeds Conservatoire Leeds Conservatoire (formerly known as The Leeds Music Centre, the City of Leeds College of Music, and Leeds College of Music) is a higher education music conservatoire based in the Quarry Hill district of Leeds, England. It was founded in 19 ...

. In May 2020, Nancy Kerr recorded 31 new arrangements of songs by

Leon Rosselson Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, Middlesex, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, i ...

as a series of videos published on her YouTube channel Nancy Kerr Music.

Awards

* 2000: "Horizon Award" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. * 2003: "Best Duo" (with James Fagan) at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. * 2011: "Best Duo" (with James Fagan) at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. * 2011: "Best Album" (with James Fagan) in the Spiral Awards * 2014: "Best Group" and "Best Album" (with the Full English) at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. * 2015: "Folk Singer of the Year" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Selected discography

* 1993: ''Eliza Carthy and Nancy Kerr'' (with

) (Mrs Casey Records MCRCD3991) * 1994: ''Waterson:Carthy'' (with Waterson–Carthy) (Topic Records TSCD475) * 1995: ''Shape of Scrape'' (with Eliza Carthy) (Mrs Casey Records MCRCD5992) * 1995: ''Evolving Tradition 1'' (with Kings of Calicut) * 1996: ''Neat and Complete'' (with

) (Fellside Recordings FECD107) * 1996: ''Shine Again'' (with Epona) (Impstone Records IMP468CD) * 1996: ''Evolving Tradition 2'' (with Kings of Calicut) * 1997: ''Starry Gazy Pie'' (with James Fagan) (Fellside Recordings FECD127) * 1998: ''Scalene'' (with Sandra Kerr) (Fellside Recordings FECD137) * 1999: ''Steely Water'' (with James Fagan) (Fellside Recordings FECD145) * 2000: ''Five Little Frogs'' (with Sandra Kerr,

, and Kevin Graal) (Playsongs Publications PP06) * 2000: ''Five Little Owls'' (with Sandra Kerr, Leon Rosselson, and Kevin Graal) (Playsongs Publications PP08) * 2002: ''Between The Dark and Light'' (with James Fagan) (Fellside Recordings FECD167) * 2002: ''On Reflection'' (with Eliza Carthy) (Mrs Casey Records MCRCD1003) * 2004: ''Evolving Tradition 4: Generations'' (with Sandra Kerr) * 2004: ''Turning Fine'' (with The Fagans) * 2005: ''Kind Letters'' (with

) * 2006: ''Strands of Gold'' (with James Fagan) (Fellside Recordings FECD199) * 2006: ''Stiffs, Lovers, Holymen, Thieves'' (with

band) * 2008: ''Station House'' (with James Fagan and Robert Harbron) (Fellside Recordings FECD211) * 2009: ''Milk and Honey Land'' (with The Fagans) * 2010: ''Twice Reflected Sun'' (with James Fagan) (Navigator Records, NAV0041) * 2011: ''Melrose Quartet Live at Cheltenham ''(with Melrose Quartet: Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, Richard and Jess Arrowsmith) * 2013: ''Fifty Verses'' (with Melrose Quartet) (MQCD02) * 2014: ''The Elizabethan Session'' (with Martin Simpson, Jim Moray, Bella Hardy, John Smith, Hannah James, Rachel Newton, Emily Askew) * 2014: ''The Full English'' (with Fay Hield, Martin Simpson, Seth Lakeman, Rob Harbron, Sam Sweeney and Ben Nicholls) * 2014: ''

'' (LiDiCD001) (Nancy Kerr solo, with The Sweet Visitor Band) * 2015: ''It Was Red/Gingerbread'' (Vinyl EP, LiDiEP002) * 2015: ''Murmurs'' (with Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting) * 2016: ''Instar'' (LiDiCD002) (Nancy Kerr solo, with The Sweet Visitor Band) * 2016: ''Sweet Liberties'' (with Martyn Joseph, Sam Carter and Maz O'Connor) * 2017: ''Dominion'' (with Melrose Quartet) (MQCD03) * 2017: ''Shake the Chains'' (with Findlay Napier, Hannah Martin, Greg Russell and Tim Yates) * 2018: ''The Transports'' (with the cast of The Transports) * 2019: ''An Evening With Nancy Kerr & James Fagan'' (LiDiCD003)

References

External links

Kerr's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Nancy 1975 births Living people Academics of Newcastle University English fiddlers English folk singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century English violinists The Full English members Musicians from London