Genres Folk Years active 1970—present | Occupation(s) Singer, guitarist Genre Folk music | |
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Origin Seaham, County Durham, UK Instruments Guitar, bouzouki, appalachian dulcimer, piano Associated acts Tom McConville, Stu Luckley Albums Dreams Never Leave You, Borrowed Moments, Box of Gold, Dark to the Sky, Blues Makes Me Happy, The Blast Record labels Topic Records, Fellside Records, Mawson & Wareham Music, Barking Fox Similar Kathryn Tickell, Kate Rusby, Benny Graham | ||
Bob Fox is an English folk guitarist and singer, specialising in traditional and contemporary songs of the north-east of England and in particular, the coal mining communities thereof. He is noted for his collaborations with Tom McConville, Stu Luckley, and for solo performances since 1982.
Contents
Biography
Bob was born in 1953 in Seaham, County Durham, UK, the son of a miner who became a Co-op worker and then an electricity meter inspector. After discovering he could sing while in school he taught himself guitar and started singing in folk clubs while at the same time training to be a teacher in Durham, where he qualified in 1975. He commenced his singing career as a resident at the "Davy Lamp" Folk Club in Washington, Tyne and Wear in approx. 1970 and in 1975, teamed up to form a professional duo with fellow north-eastern singer (and fiddle player) Tom McConville for 2 years (1975-77). After this he formed a duo with ex-Hedgehog Pie singer, guitarist and acoustic bass guitar player Stu Luckley which performed all over the United Kingdom and recorded two albums, the first of which "Nowt So Good'll Pass" was voted Folk Album of the Year by Melody Maker in 1978. Fox and Luckley became a popular attraction on the UK folk scene and supported Richard and Linda Thompson and Ralph McTell on major British tours. After ceasing the partnership with Luckley in 1982 to pursue individual projects, Bob has maintained a successful career as a solo folk performer for over 30 years. During the 1990s, together with Benny Graham he developed a multi-media show documenting the coal mining communities of Durham and Northumberland, which led to the CD "How Are You Off For Coals", featuring a selection of mining songs. In 2006 Bob, along with a range of other top UK folk artists, was involved in providing performances for the "2006 Radio Ballads" commissioned by BBC Radio, and in 2009 he performed in the part of "Songman" in the highly acclaimed West End production of War Horse which played in the West End for 18 months and was subsequently toured for another eighteen months around Britain, Ireland and South Africa. Scholar Anthony Ashbolt describes Fox as "possessing one of the best folk-singing voices in England and he evokes the world of the miners and, in general, the songs of the northeast, with power and clarity."
Bob Fox and Stu Luckley
Bob Fox and Benny Graham
Solo
The Hush (Jed Grimes, Garry Linsley, Graham Wood, Paul Smith and Neil Harland) with Bob Fox
Various Artists: The 2006 Radio Ballads
Bob Fox features on albums including The Song of Steel, The Enemy That Lives Within, The Horn of the Hunter, Swings and Roundabouts, Thirty Years of Conflict and The Ballad of the Big Ships, also on the compilation album The Songs of the Radio Ballads.
Billy Mitchell and Bob Fox
The Pitmen Poets (Benny Graham, Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe)
Songs
Sally WheatleyBox of Gold · 1995
Dance to Your DaddyBorrowed Moments · 2003
The Rambling Rover2000