Vincent Paul Garbutt (20 November 1947 – 6 June 2017) was an English

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 ...

and songwriter. A significant part of his repertoire consisted of

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

s covering topics such as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland (''Welcome Home Howard Green'', ''Troubles of Erin, To Find Their Ulster Peace''), unemployment, and social issues. Whilst the subject of his songs featured many political and social topics, Garbutt's on stage wit, humour and storytelling between songs became a hit with audiences and for which he became widely known. He would wish his audiences "All the very best" along with, "I'm knackered now, aren't you?"

Early life

Garbutt was born in Coral Street,

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, England, the son of an English father and an Irish mother. Although his first live performances were in a pop covers band called The Mystics, he discovered folk music while he was still at school and began visiting and performing at the Rifle Club in Cannon Street, Middlesbrough, and later at Eston Folk Club closer to his home . After leaving school he initially enrolled on a six-month commercial course but was encouraged to become an apprentice at the

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI) Wilton

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...

, near to his home. During this period he visited Ireland in search of his musical roots. Aged 21, he became a professional musician. With the rich repertoire of songs he had amassed, he and five friends spent the first summer busking his way around the bars of Spain's Mediterranean coast and on to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

via

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. It was then that he found he had a talent for songwriting. Back in England in 1972 he recorded his first album for Bill Leader, ''The Valley of Tees'', which established him as a singer-songwriter. His witty patter was often longer than the amount of time singing. Vin Garbutt 1994-3

Later years and death

In 1999, Garbutt toured the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, followed by his "Take It Easy after 30 Years on the Road" tour of the UK. He also released the ''Word of Mouth'' CD. During 2001, Garbutt published the first collection of his songs, ''The Vin Garbutt Songbook''. The collection spans his career from "The Valley of Tees" written in 1971 to "The Troubles of Erin" written in 1999. Shortly afterwards, the companion CD was issued, Garbutt's first ever compilation CD and another world tour followed in 2004. A health check highlighted a minor health problem but in early 2005, on a sabbatical trip to Spain, his condition deteriorated. On his return to England he was hospitalised and a repair made to one of his heart valves. He then made a full recovery and got back on the road. In his recuperation period he worked on his album ''Persona … Grata'' which was launched at

The Sage Gateshead The Glasshouse is an international centre for musical education and concerts on the Gateshead bank of Quayside in northern England. Opened in 2004 as Sage Gateshead and occupied by North Music Trust, the venue's original name honours a patron ...

on 6 October 2005. In 2006, filmmaker Craig Hornby began filming a documentary on Vin's life. The end result, 'Teesside Troubadour' was premiered at Cineworld Middlesbrough and screened for a week in November 2010. Vin continued to perform extensively until his death following heart surgery on 6 June 2017. Garbutt was working on an autobiography, ''All the Very Best'', during the four years before his death. The book was published posthumously in autumn 2021.

Awards

In 2001, Garbutt won the "Best Live Act" award at the

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 ...

, and was nominated for "Folk Singer of the Year" (with the award going to Norma Waterson). Later that year, he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Master of Arts by the

Teesside University Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

. In 2007, he was nominated for "Best Live Act" again at the

, with the award going to

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 ...

Discography

*''The Valley of Tees'' (1972) *''The Young Tin Whistle Pest (live)'' (1974) *''King Gooden'' (1976) *''Eston California'' (1977) *''Tossin' a Wobbler'' (1978) *''Little Innocents'' (1983) *''Shy Tot Pommy'' (1985) ive – Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia*'' When The Tide Turns'' (1989) *''The By-Pass Syndrome'' (1991) *'' Bandalised'' (1994) *''

Plugged! ''Plugged!'' is a 1995 folk music album by Vin Garbutt. The album was recorded live at the Red Lion Folk Club, Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of ...

'' (1995) ive – Red Lion Folk Club, Birmingham, UK.*'' When the Tide Turns Again'' (1998) eissue of 1989 album with one additional track*''

Word of Mouth Word of mouth is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a ...

'' (1999) *'' The Vin Garbutt Songbook Vol 1'' (2003) *''Persona ... Grata'' (2005) *''Teesside Troubadour'' Documentary feature & live DVD (2011) *''Synthetic Hues'' (2014)

References

External links

The official Vin Garbutt website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garbutt, Vin 1947 births 2017 deaths People from South Bank, Redcar and Cleveland English folk singers English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English buskers English people of Irish descent Topic Records artists