Roy Bailey, (20 October 1935 – 20 November 2018) was an English sociologist and

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. Colin Irwin from the music magazine '' Mojo'' said Bailey represented "the very soul of folk's working class ideals... a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry."

Biography

Bailey began his musical career in a

skiffle Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...

band in 1958, and later joined folk supergroup the Three City Four featuring Leon Rosselson, as a replacement for

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

. His first solo album was released in 1971. He performed a number of songs by the American singer-songwriter Si Kahn and was also renowned as a singer of children's songs, often using material written by his old partner Leon Rosselson. ''Oats & Beans & Kangaroos'' is an album of children's songs performed by Roy & Val Bailey with Leon Rosselson. Bailey worked with Robb Johnson and others on the award-winning '' Gentle Men'' album, released in 1997 and re-recorded and released in 2013. In 2003, Bailey and

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

were awarded "Best Live Act" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for their programme ''Writing on the Wall'', later an album. Tony Benn cited Roy Bailey as "the greatest socialist

of his generation." In the 2000 Honours List, he received the MBE for Services to Folk Music. On 23 August 2006, he returned his MBE insignia in protest at the British government's

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

with regard to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

. He contributed vocals to Chumbawamba's 2008 album '' The Boy Bands Have Won'', on the track "Word Bomber", a song about the London suicide attacks in 2005. He also joined the band on stage to sing the song, on their farewell Leeds show in October 2012. In 2016, Roy released his first live album, Live at Towersey Festival 2015, which was recorded in secret at the festival and featured guest appearances from Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting. The album contained songs written by Si Kahn,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

, John Tams, Robb Johnson and others. Roy appeared at the very first Towersey Festival in 1965 and his well established Monday afternoon concert as patron regularly drew a crowd of around 1000. Roy Bailey was an

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Professor of Social Studies at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

. He was also the patron of Towersey Village Festival, Shepley Spring Festival and the Music on the Marr Festival based in the village of Castle Carrock, Cumbria. He was the father-in-law of Martin Simpson, a singer and guitarist, whose wife Kit is Bailey's daughter. Having struggled with heart failure for over 30 years, Bailey died on 20 November 2018 in St Luke's Hospice, Sheffield. A posthumous album was released in late 2020 entitled Roy Bailey Remembered, featuring performances from Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, The Wilsons and The Spooky Men's Chorale. This was recorded at Towersey Folk Festival 2019 and launched as an album using crowd funding.

Discography

Albums

*''Smoke and Dust Where the Heart Should Have Been'', CBS 1965 (as part of the Three City Four) ost of the album reissued 2010*''Oats & Beans & Kangaroos'', Fontana Records, SFL13061, 1968 (with Leon Rosselson) hildren's songs *''Roy Bailey'', Trailer Records, LER 3021, 1971 *''That's Not The Way It's Got To Be'', Fuse Records, CF 251, 1975 (with Leon Rosselson) *''Love, Loneliness & Laundry'', Fuse, CF, 1976 (with Leon Rosselson) *''New Bell Wake'', Fuse, CF262, 1977 *''If I Knew Who the Enemy Was'', CF284, 1979 (with Leon Rosselson) *'' Songs of Life from a Dying British Empire'', Paredon, 1981 (with Leon Rosselson) his being a US re-issue of That's Not The Way It's Got To Be*''Hard Times'', Fuse, CF382, 1982 *''Freedom Peacefully'', Fuse, CF386, 1986 *''Leaves From a Tree'', Fuse, CF394, 1988 *''Why Does It Have To Be Me?'', Fuse, CF396, 1989 hildren's songs*''Never Leave A Story Unsung'', Fuse, CFCD398, 1991 *''What You Do With What You've Got'', Fuse, CFCD399, 1992 ompilation of 1975–1991 material*''Business As Usual'', Fuse, CFCD400, 1994 *''Rhythm & Reds'', Musikfolk, MFO512, 1994 s Band of Hope – with Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick & John Kirkpatrick (folk musician)">John Kirkpatrick">Dave Swarbrick">s Band of Hope – with Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick & John Kirkpatrick (folk musician)">John Kirkpatrick*''New Directions in the Old'', Fuse, CFCD402, 1999 *''New Bell Wake'', Fuse, CFCD262, 1999 *'' Gentle Men'', Irregular Records, 1998 (with Robb Johnson) *''Past Masters'', Fuse, CFCD403, 1998 *''Coda'', Fuse, CFCD, 2000 *''Up the Wooden Hill'', Fuse, CFCD170201, 2002 hildren's songs *''Writing on the Wall'', Fuse, CFCD405, 2004 (with Tony Benn) *''Sit Down and Sing'', Fuse CFCD406 2005 *''Below the Radar'', Fuse, CFCD407, 2009 *''Tomorrow'', Fuse, CFCD408, 2010 hildren's songs *''Stories EP'', Fuse, Digital release only, 2014 *''Live at Towersey Festival 2015'', Fuse, CFCD410, 2016"Roy Bailey To Launch Live Album at Towersey"
"Folk Radio UK (FRUK)", 11 August 2016 *''Roy Bailey: Remembered''.

References

External links

The Roy Bailey Homepage
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Roy 1935 births 2018 deaths English sociologists English folk musicians British political music artists English folk singers English folk guitarists English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English male guitarists Members of the Order of the British Empire Singers from London

Biography

Discography

Albums

See also

References

External links