Ширли Коллинз: Голос английского фолка

British folk singer
the former MPP

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style.

Shirley Collins was born in Hastings, East Sussex, England on 5 July 1935. She grew up, with her older sister Dolly, in the area, in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career. On leaving school, at the age of 17, Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. In 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan MacColl, she met Alan Lomax, the American folk collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch hunt, which was then raging in America. and singing backing vocals on a version of MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" by Alan Lomax and the Ramblers, in 1956. "I was madly in love with him", Collins says of Lomax. The albums featured sparse arrangements with Collins accompanying herself on the banjo. Sweet England was released in 1959 and False True Lovers in 1960. Collins also recorded a series of EPs in 1958 and 1959 with The Foggy Dew and English Songs being released in 1959. From July to November 1959, Collins and Lomax made a folk song collecting trip in the Southern U. S. states. It resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Bessie Jones, and is noted for the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell. Recordings from this trip were issued by Atlantic Records under the title "Sounds of the South", and some were re enacted in the Coen brothers’ film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The experience of her life with Lomax, and the making of the recordings in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs was described in Collins' book America Over the Water (published 2005). Back in Britain, Collins met Austin John Marshall, whom she later married. She also proceeded with her singing career, appearing on three compilations albums (A Jug of Punch, A Pinch of Salt and Rocket Along) in 1960 and an EP, Heroes in Love, in 1963 (now included with False True Lovers on the CD release). It was after that, in a series of influential albums, that she helped to introduce many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, she recorded the landmark jazz folk fusion of Folk Roots, New Routes, with guitarist Davey Graham. The unusual combination of ancient instruments included rebecs, sackbuts, viols and crumhorns. All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more contemporary attitude to musical settings. Anthems in Eden was followed by Love, Death and the Lady, also co credited with Dolly, in 1970.

Collins married her second husband Ashley Hutchings in 1971. Collins does not appear on the next Albion Band album (Rise Up Like the Sun, recorded in 1977 and released in 1978, with the "Dance" dropped from the band name) and decided to focus on home life and her children from her first marriage whilst Hutchings and the Albion Band collaborated on several National Theatre productions. It was during this period that Hutchings left Collins. The painful divorce was followed by loss of her voice and "the ability to sing entirely," leading to her retirement from music. Her music career seemingly over, Collins resorted to "a number of low paid jobs"—including employment at the British Library and the job centre—to get by, and she sold her old equipment.

Collins sang on the final version of "Idumæa" on Current 93's 2006 album Black Ships Ate the Sky. On 8 February 2014, at Union Chapel in Islington, London, Collins sang for the first time for many years, performing two songs; "All the Pretty Little Horses" and "Death and the Lady". She was accompanied by Ian Kearey from the band Oysterband. She returned to recording and in November 2016, Collins released Lodestar, her first new album in 38 years. Earning two BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations for the work, considered her best by some, she found this late success highly improbable, saying: "I never believed it could happen. It's a bit of a miracle, really". Lodestar was followed in July 2020 by another album of new material, entitled Heart's Ease. The album included re recordings of some songs she had sung in her twenties, such as "Barbara Allen". In a five star review, The Guardian described it as " a more confident follow up [to Lodestar]", saying: "The veteran singer's comeback really takes wing with this impeccably judged set". Another album of new recordings, Archangel Hill, was released in May 2023, featuring songs chosen by Collins some traditional and some by her favourite modern writers.

A film about her life, The Ballad of Shirley Collins, was released in October 2017. She was not sure such attention was warranted, saying: "When they first asked me I was nonplussed. I thought, 'is this a wind up?’”

In 2004, Collins was awarded a Gold Badge by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She was awarded the MBE for services to music in the 2007 New Year's Honours List. She holds an Honorary Degree from the Open University (for a "notable contribution to education and culture") and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex. In 2008 she was elected as president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and received the "Good Tradition" award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She is currently patron of the South East Folk Arts Network and Folk South West. Collins garnered two BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations for her seventh studio album, Lodestar, released in 2016. A film about her life, The Ballad of Shirley Collins, was released in October 2017.