Yes - a celebration!

n Navigation: n Obituaries n Menu of pages on this CD-ROM
n Sound Samples: n Netscape Users click here for opening sound montage
n Peter Bellamy: Collecting in Norfolk n Martin Carthy tribute n Heather Wood remembers
n Steve Ashley: Over There in Paradise n Grace Notes: Down Falls the Day
n Peter Bellamy: When I Die
Credits: Steve Ashley's Over There in Paradise, from Test of Time CD, © Copyright 1998 Market Square Music, used by permission.
Grace Notes' Down Falls the Day, from Down Falls the Day CD, © Copyright 1993 Grace Notes Records, used by permission.
Heather Wood's recollections from a tribute programme on radio station WBAI, New York, October 6, 1991, used by permission of Ed Haber.
When I Die from the Doc Watson family of Deep Gap, North Carolina, sung by PB, Royston Wood, Heather Wood & the Watersons,
on Both Sides Then © Copyright 1979 Topic Records, used by permission.

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Though Peter Bellamy died on September 24, 1991, after a quarter of a century of achievement, this website, and the three audio CDs, are not an act of mourning. We've done our grieving. Now is the time to celebrate our good fortune in sharing the planet with the man who was, as the Independent put it, " the most individual and prolific voice of the second generation of folk revivalists who followed in the pioneer footsteps of Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd".
The Bellamy story breaks down into four main areas:

his time (1964-1969) with the Young Tradition;
his work as a solo performer, which had already begun with his Mainly Norfolk album for Transatlantic before the break-up of the YT, continuing right up to his death;
his settings of the works of Kipling, which started with The Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling in 1976, a project originally blocked by Kipling's daughter, but released by Green Linnet after her death - again, he continued to produce new settings right up to the end; and
very notably, his ballad-opera, The Transports, the subject of a double-album (recently re-released on CD by Topic) and of numerous live performances, both professional and amateur, throughout the world.

This website concentrates on the latter three areas, though there are inevitable references to the short and tumultuous life of the YT, also.

Here is a menu of the pages on this site:

Listing of Audio Tracks on this set
(with RealAudio soundclips)
Discography
Tapeography
Sources and styles
The Transports
Keep on Kipling

Obituaries

Michael Grosvenor Myer in The Guardian
Peter Bellamy's sudden death agred 46 has come as a profound shock to his friends in the folk world. The son of a farm bailiff, he was brought up near Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, whose traditional music was to be embellished by his researches and his own creative work.

I met Pete first in the sixties when he led the Young Tradition trio, with harmonies from Heather Wood and the late Royston Wood. His astonishing near-falsetto voice gave the group its characteristic sound, and his flamboyant appearance - a blond ponytail topped by the Amish hat he had bought in Pennsylvania - provided its atmosphere. His colourful brocade-and-velvet clothes were of his own making.

Before becoming a singer he studied at art school and designed the covers of all his 20plus records and cassettes, often with witty Old-Master pastiches. His home was always a joy to visit, decorated with his own paintings (which he often exhibited), a royalty statement from a record company for 4½p, and the framed and mounted cocked hat of his ancestor, Surgeon-Commander Bellamy, who had served with Nelson. Folk Review magazine ran his cartoons and many stylish and cogent reviews and features.

But it was as a musician that Pete shone most brightly. He had a marvellous way with a traditional song, usually unaccompanied but sometimes with Ango-German concertina, and could shout a fine blues with bottleneck guitar, always in open-G tuning.

He wa


n Navigation: n Obituaries n Menu of pages on this CD-ROM n Sound Samples: n Netscape Users click here for opening sound montage n Peter Bellamy: Collecting in Norfolk n Martin Carthy tribute n Heather Wood remembers n Steve Ashley: Over There in Paradise n Grace Notes: Down Falls the Day n Peter Bellamy: When I Die Credits: Steve Ashley's Over There in Paradise, from Test of Time CD, © Copyright 1998 Market Square Music, used by permission. Grace Notes' Down Falls the Day, from Down Falls the Day CD, © Copyright 1993 Grace Notes Records, used by permission. Heather Wood's recollections from a tribute programme on radio station WBAI, New York, October 6, 1991, used by permission of Ed Haber. When I Die from the Doc Watson family of Deep Gap, North Carolina, sung by PB, Royston Wood, Heather Wood & the Watersons, on Both Sides Then © Copyright 1979 Topic Records, used by permission.
e l e b r a t i o n
Though Peter Bellamy died on September 24, 1991, after a quarter of a century of achievement, this website, and the three audio CDs, are not an act of mourning. We've done our grieving. Now is the time to celebrate our good fortune in sharing the planet with the man who was, as the Independent put it, " the most individual and prolific voice of the second generation of folk revivalists who followed in the pioneer footsteps of Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd". The Bellamy story breaks down into four main areas: his time (1964-1969) with the Young Tradition; his work as a solo performer, which had already begun with his Mainly Norfolk album for Transatlantic before the break-up of the YT, continuing right up to his death; his settings of the works of Kipling, which started with The Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling in 1976, a project originally blocked by Kipling's daughter, but released by Green Linnet after her death - again, he continued to produce new settings right up to the end; and very notably, his ballad-opera, The Transports, the subject of a double-album (recently re-released on CD by Topic) and of numerous live performances, both professional and amateur, throughout the world. This website concentrates on the latter three areas, though there are inevitable references to the short and tumultuous life of the YT, also. Here is a menu of the pages on this site: Listing of Audio Tracks on this set (with RealAudio soundclips) Discography Tapeography Sources and styles The Transports Keep on Kipling
Obituaries
Michael Grosvenor Myer in The Guardian Peter Bellamy's sudden death agred 46 has come as a profound shock to his friends in the folk world. The son of a farm bailiff, he was brought up near Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, whose traditional music was to be embellished by his researches and his own creative work. I met Pete first in the sixties when he led the Young Tradition trio, with harmonies from Heather Wood and the late Royston Wood. His astonishing near-falsetto voice gave the group its characteristic sound, and his flamboyant appearance - a blond ponytail topped by the Amish hat he had bought in Pennsylvania - provided its atmosphere. His colourful brocade-and-velvet clothes were of his own making. Before becoming a singer he studied at art school and designed the covers of all his 20plus records and cassettes, often with witty Old-Master pastiches. His home was always a joy to visit, decorated with his own paintings (which he often exhibited), a royalty statement from a record company for 4½p, and the framed and mounted cocked hat of his ancestor, Surgeon-Commander Bellamy, who had served with Nelson. Folk Review magazine ran his cartoons and many stylish and cogent reviews and features. But it was as a musician that Pete shone most brightly. He had a marvellous way with a traditional song, usually unaccompanied but sometimes with Ango-German concertina, and could shout a fine blues with bottleneck guitar, always in open-G tuning. He wa