Judy Dyble obituary

Singer-songwriter with Fairport Convention who went on to success in the duo Trader Horne

Judy Dyble, who has died aged 71, was the first female singer with the English folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention. She was already singing in north London folk clubs, accompanying herself on the autoharp, when in 1967 she was invited to join the Muswell Hill-based band, whose members included Ashley Hutchings, who had been at the same school as Dyble, Richard Thompson, her boyfriend at the time, and Simon Nicol. Throughout her career, Dyble sang in her natural speaking voice, with clear diction and without affectation.

Fairport Convention were initially influenced by American musicians such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, rather than by the British folk songs that came later, and their first, eponymous album, released later that year – the only one that featured Dyble – included two at-the-time unreleased songs from Mitchell, one of them Chelsea Morning. The album also featured Portfolio, written by Dyble and Hutchings. Live performances in London, including at the American record producer Joe Boyd’s UFO Club, were characterised by Dyble knitting on stage; she knitted while Thompson and Jimi Hendrix jammed at the Speakeasy Club. Boyd became the band’s manager but was anxious for Sandy Denny to replace Dyble, who left in 1968.

Keen to continue singing, Dyble and her then boyfriend, Ian McDonald, advertised their talents in Melody Maker magazine and were contacted by the psychedelic pop trio Giles, Giles and Fripp. Following the end of her relationship with McDonald, she left the band, which evolved into the progressive rock band King Crimson.

Dyble had more success in a duo with Jackie McAuley called Trader Horne. Its name was suggested by John Peel: it was the nickname of his childhood nanny. Peel also loaned Dyble the money to buy an electric autoharp. Trader Horne were signed to Pye Records’ new label, Dawn, and released an album, Morning Way, in 1970. McAuley was the main songwriter, although Dyble wrote the album’s title track as well as Velvet to Atone. The album was heralded as a lost gem when it was re-released in 2008, with Record Collector magazine enthusing over the “sepia aura of this lost classic”. Trader Horne broke up when Dybleexperienced a crisis in confidence and soon afterwards she gave up her career in music.

She was born in Wood Green, London, to Jessie (nee Collyer), a dental nurse, and Albert Dyble, a carpenter. After attending Minchenden grammar school, Southgate, Dyble became a librarian, an occupation she pursued in between family commitments and musical projects. She played the piano as a child and while still at school performed in a band, Judy and the Folkmen, whose only gig was for Hornsey Conservative Association.

While Denny became the distinctive voice of the new-look Fairport Convention, Dyble’s early contribution was not forgotten, and in 1997 Fairport asked her to sing at the 30th anniversary celebrations at their Cropredy festival in Oxfordshire. Having rarely sung in public for 25 years, Dyble was petrified, but she shone on stage and her performances were well received, with a repeat at the 35th anniversary in 2002.

This second appearance marked the start of her return to music-making. An approach from Marc Swordfish of the techno band Astralasia led to a CD of Dyble’s newly written songs, Enchanted Garden (2004), and two further albums in 2006, Spindle and The Whorl. Dyble’s health issues, including rheumatoid arthritis and emphysema, contributed to her reluctance to tour, but occasional concerts were relished by her dedicated fans.

In 2008, Dyble re-recorded One Sure Thing, a song from the first Fairport Convention album, with the indie band The Conspirators; it reached No 7 in the indie charts. The following year she released Talking with Strangers, made in collaboration with Tim Bowness and Alistair Murphy, and this led to a rare London appearance at the 100 Club, where she was joined by Nicol. Murphy was the co-writer for Dyble’s next collection of recorded songs, released as Flow and Change in 2013.

A three-CD anthology of past recordings, Gathering the Threads (Fifty Years of Stuff) (2015), was followed by a Trader Horne reunion concert at Bush Hall in London with McAuley and Dyble’s occasional musicians, known as Band of Perfect Strangers. Dyble also wrote an autobiography, An Accidental Musician, with assistance from Dave Thompson (2016).

Dyble returned to the Cropredy festival in 2017, performing with Fairport Convention in the band’s 50th anniversary year, and she also had her own set over the weekend with Perfect Strangers.

New albums included Summer Dancing (2017), which featured the dream-like A Net of Memories (London), followed by Earth is Sleeping (2018) and Weavings of a Silver Magic, a live album from a 2016 concert, released earlier this year. Her recent close working relationship with Big Big Train’s David Longdon is due to result in the release of a final album, Between a Breath and a Breath, in September.

Dyble married the DJ and writer Simon Stable, whose real name was Simon de la Bédoyère, in 1970; he died in 1994. Dyble is survived by their two children, Daniel and Stephanie, and two grandchildren.

• Judith Aileen Dyble, singer-songwriter, born 13 February 1949; died 12 July 2020

Contributor

Derek Schofield

The GuardianTramp

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