Peter Knight (born 27 May 1947) is an English folk musician, a former member of

British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...

group

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, ...

. Born in London, Knight learnt to play the violin and mandolin as a child before going to the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

from 1960 to 1964. The recordings of the Irish fiddler Michael Coleman inspired him to take part in Irish pub sessions. He teamed up with guitarist and singer Bob Johnson until 1970 when he joined Steeleye Span. The parting was short-lived, as Johnson himself also joined Steeleye Span in 1972. Since 2016, he has performed as a duo with

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical sty ...

founder and melodeon player, John Spiers.

Steeleye Span

Knight's classical roots were well hidden until he recorded "A Canon by Telemann" on the album ''Back In Line'', multi-tracking with himself on this tricky baroque piece. In the mid-70s he was once secretly a member of

The Wombles ''The Wombles'' are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycl ...

and appeared on ''

Top of The Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' as Uncle Bulgaria, with Rick Kemp and Bob Johnson also in Womble suits. He left Steeleye Span in January 1977, when it started to look as if the band was about to break up. Knight teamed up with Johnson again to record a concept album '' The King of Elfland's Daughter'' (1978), based on the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957), commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consist ...

. It included one song sung by blues legend

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major i ...

and another by

Mary Hopkin Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single " Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be sign ...

. In 1980 he returned to Steeleye Span and appeared on every one of their albums since then up until ''Wintersmith'' (released October 2013). He announced his decision to leave Steeleye Span at the end of 2013 on his website on 14 November 2013.

Feast of Fiddles

Some of the most accomplished folk fiddlers of England and Scotland joined together for a tour in 2001. An album of live performances from the 2001 tour was sold as "Feast of Fiddles" in 2002. The group has continued to tour annually since 2001, but describe themselves as "unsigned". They sell albums of live performances from previous concerts, but in a very restricted way. The CDs are available at the gigs or over the internet. They consist mainly of traditional English tunes, in varying combinations of solo, duo or band.

Other projects

*In 1982 Knight joined "Moire Music" a free-jazz group led by Trevor Watts, while still remaining a member of Steeleye.

Liam Genockey Liam Genockey (born 12 August 1948) is an Irish musician, who is the drummer with British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Biography Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi ...

was drummer with the group, and would later become a member of Steeleye Span, when Nigel Pegrum left. *Knight's classical and jazz influences surfaced again in 1998 when he recorded ''An Ancient Cause'' and ''The Gemini Cadenza'', multi-tracking with himself. *In 1995 he recorded an album with bass-player

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Ma ...

, best known for his work with

John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums and received frequent critical acclaim. ...

. *Knight is concentrating on developing his trio Gigspanner which features himself on fiddle, Vincent Salzfaas on percussion and Roger Flack on electro-acoustic guitar. They play a blend of traditional folk and hot jazz with African rhythms. Their debut album, released in November 2008, is called ''Lipreading The Poet''. It was named by ''The Wire'' magazine as one of the best 15 'Global' Albums of 2009. They are undertaking an increasing number of touring and festival commitments. *Knight formed ''Tanna'' with guitarist Kevin Dempsey and Tom Leary during the 2000s. *He appeared as a guest on

Mostly Autumn Mostly Autumn are an English rock band. The group formed in 1995 and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. They produce music heavily influenced by 1970s progressive rock. According to the BBC, M ...

's 2007 album '' Heart Full of Sky'' and performed as a guest at their album launch show at the London Astoria on 10 February 2007. *He appeared as a guest on The Lost Trades's 2021 album ''The Bird, The Book & The Barrel''

Discography (excluding Steeleye Span)

With Bob Johnson

* '' The King of Elfland's Daughter'' (1977)

Solo

* ''An Ancient Cause'' (1991) * ''The Gemini Cadenza'' (1998) * ''Too Late For Shadows'' (2005)

With Danny Thompson

* ''Peter Knight and

'' (1995) Resurgence – RES108CD

Maddy Prior

* ''Ballads and Candles'' (2000)

With Chris Leslie, Tom Leary, Ian Cutler, Phil Beer, Hugh Crabtree and Brian McNeill

* ''Feast of Fiddles'' (2002) (recorded live in 2001) * ''Nicely Wrong'' * ''Still Live'' (live 2006)

With Gigspanner (Peter, Sacha Trochet, Roger Flack)

* ''Lipreading The Poet'' (2009) * ''Doors At Eight'' (live from May 2010 tour) * ''Layers of Ages'' (2015) * ''The Wife Of Urban Law'' (2017) * ''From Poets To Wives'' (2021) - compilation from the above 4 Gigspanner albums

With John Spiers

* ''Well Met'' (2018) * ''Both In A Tune (2021)

With Gigspanner 'Big Band' (Gigspanner with Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, aka Edgelarks)

* ''Live'' (live at

Fairport's Cropredy Convention Fairport's Cropredy Convention (formerly Cropredy Festival) is an annual festival of folk and rock music, headed by British folk-rock band Fairport Convention and held on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire, England. The festi ...

, 9 August 2017) * ''Natural Invention'' (April 2020)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Peter 1947 births Living people Musicians from London British folk rock musicians English fiddlers British male violinists British mandolinists Steeleye Span members Chrysalis Records artists 21st-century English violinists