Denny Sandy - No more sad refrains the life and times of Sandy Denny

T his weighty tome began in less than satisfactory circumstances. I was originally asked to give my opinion on a typescript of a Sandy Denny biography commissioned by a friend of mine for his small publishing-house, Helter Skelter. The work in question, by one Pam Winters, had much of the raw material for a biography, but was clearly not the finished article he had hoped for. I suggested he approached Ms. Winters with a view to turning over her numerous transcripts and raw research material to someone who might yet rewrite the ms. into something that might reach a general reading audience. Ms. Winters, for her own reasons, chose to decline, leaving me with the option of taking up the reins. Ever since I wrote a little monograph on Sandy, back in 1988, I had wanted to do a biography and finally the time seemed right.

I took soundings to see if the various weary souls who had offered their thoughts to Ms. Winters, in the belief that this would result in THE biography, would again expose themselves to a biographers whim. The response was overwhelmingly affirmative, something I believe to be a tribute to Sandy, and Sandy alone. Though I quickly disregarded Ms. Winters perspective as a possible template for my own, her endeavours left at my disposal an outline of possible willing cohorts and I was gradually able to work my way through all the same major players, with perhaps two notable exceptions, childhood chum Winnie Whittaker, who eluded me, and engineer John Wood, who spurned my advances. Id like to think I also rustled up a few souls of my own, including Philippa Clare, who had refused to talk to Ms. Winters, a refreshingly forthright Pete Townshend and an aged Judith Pieppe.

So, may I thank each and every one of those first-hand sources: Bambi Ballard, Val Berry, Joe Boyd, Steve Brickell, Philippa Clare, Jon Cole, Gerry Conway, Gill Cooke, Karl Dallas, Jerry Donahue, Linda Fitzgerald-Moore, Geena Glazer, Ashley Hutchings, Colin Irwin, Bert Jansch, Mike Kellie, Peter Kennedy, Richard Lewis, Jacqui McShee, Dave Pegg, John Perry, Linda Peters, Judith Pieppe, Maddy Prior, John Renbourn, Bruce Rowland, David Sandison, Al Stewart, Dave Swarbrick, Richard Thompson, Pete Townshend, Miranda Ward and Heather Wood. If Philippa Clare, Miranda Ward and David Sandison took an especially active interest in this project, entrusting precious sets of tapes and photos to this biographer, Id like to say every single one of the souls named above responded with great patience to all my enquiries.

On a handful of occasions and I mean a handful I felt the quotes Ms. Winters obtained were superior to mine and, with the preemptive publication of her ms. on the ol www: I had a license to use the quotes best expressed in her interviews (its called fair usage). The readers will find these marked [PW]. Jim Irvin of Mojo, whose 1998 piece on Sandy remains essential reading for any concerned party, kindly turned over to me a transcript of his interview with John Wood, along with similar transcripts for Danny Thompson and the late Neil Denny (his quotes are marked [JI]); whilst Colin Davies, of Hokey Pokey fanzine fame, who was a constant source of practical advice, suggested avenues, phone numbers, memorabilia and photos, unquestioningly turned over transcripts of his own series of interviews with Pat Donaldson, Sandys father Neil, college classmate David Laskey, and Linda Thompson (his quotes are marked [CD]). Finally, the ever generous Patrick Humphries refrained from berating me for hanging onto transcripts of interviews he did with Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Ashley Hutchings for his 1980 Fairport history, Meet On The Ledge for over a decade, and gave me carte blanche to quote from them as well as his Richard Thompson biography, published by Virgin in 1996 (such quotes are marked [PH].

Id also like to thank those who proved as generous with research resources as the above were with their personal (re) collections. Colin Harper and Neville Judd were ever willing to provide input and, in Colins case, to even allow me a pre-publication perusal of his own mighty bio of Bert Jansch, due from Bloomsbury. David Thomas also came up with a number of names and numbers, via Colin Davies, for which mucho gratias. Ed Haber confirmed details of a number of American performances. Donna Frantz dug out her own interview with Sandy from December 1974 for KLRB. Malcolm Taylor at Cecil Sharp House was his ever helpful self; and Jon Storey did all that he could to gather together all the visual material. Thanks also to Mod Langs Paul Bradshaw for his visual input, ditto Linda Fitzgerald-Moore. Especial thanks also go out to Universals Bill Levenson in New York, and Jane Hitchin and her staff in London, for all their help accessing the studio records that enabled me to piece together a reasonably exact chronology of Sandys studio activities. My editor, Sean Body, displayed remarkable forbearance throughout. And finally, but most importantly, my undying thanks to Elizabeth Hurtt-Lucas, for making Sandys personal papers available to me, to Shane Youl for interceding with Liz on my behalf, and to Elizabeths parents, Pam and Harry, for allowing me the environment and opportunity to notate to my hearts content. I hope that you all feel the end-product repays such acts of faith.

Clinton Heylin

The publishers would like to give special thanks to: Miranda Ward for the index, and for much more besides, Donna Frantz, Robert Greenfield, Kingsley Abbott and especially Colin Davies, for help far beyond the call of duty.

Plate section
Neil Denny, Edna Denny, Sandy aged 5, Sandy and David on a family holiday, Sandy and David at Worple Road and Sandy in Trafalgar Square, and later Sandy and David, courtesy of Neil Denny, with thanks to Colin Davies.

Early Sandy promo, Fairport Convention in concert, Sandy and Trevor at Cambridge Folk Festival and Sandy live in the 70s, courtesy of Phillippa Clare.

Sandy in Denver and wedding photos, courtesy of Miranda Ward.

Sandy A&M promo shot courtesy of Linda Fitzgerald-Moore.

Final photo courtesy of Keith Morris.

Other illustrations
Photographs in , courtesy of Neil Denny, with thanks to Colin Davies.

All Sandy Dennys drawings, doodles and hand-written extracts are copyright the Sandy Denny estate and are reproduced by kind permission.

Sandy Dennys letter to Miranda Ward is reprinted with kind permission of Miranda Ward.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of photographs used in this book, but one or two were unreachable. We would be grateful if the photographers concerned would contact us.

P ublished information about Sandy Denny and her music remains all too limited, but the below should provide a good starting point:

Davies, Colin [ed.] Hokey Pokey fanzine, various issues [198992].

Heylin, Clinton Sad Refrains: The Recordings of Sandy Denny [pp, 1988].

Humphries, Patrick Meet On The Ledge [Eel Pie, 1982 reissued Virgin, 1997].

Humphries, Patrick Richard Thompson: Strange Affair [Virgin, 1996].

Irvin, Jim Angel of Avalon: Mojo June 1998.

Kenney, Martyn Unscrapbooking: Another History of Fairport Convention [pp, 1988].

I have drawn on as many interviews with Sandy Denny as I have been able to locate. The published ones are as follows, in some approximation of chronological order by publication:

28/1/67 Karl Dallas, Melody Maker.

23/9/67 Karl Dallas, Melody Maker.

27/7/68 Tony Wilson, Melody Maker.

16/9/69 Nick Logan, New Musical Express.

17/1/70 Penny Valentine, Disc & Music Echo.

14/2/70 ???,