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Erik Darling

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Genres
  
Folk

Role
  
Songwriter

Name
  
Erik Darling


Labels
  
Vanguard

Occupation(s)
  
Songwriter, singer

Ex-spouse
  
Joan Darling

Erik Darling Erik Darling 74 Leader in Folk Revival The New York Sun

Born
  
September 25, 1933 Baltimore, Maryland, United States (
1933-09-25
)

Associated acts
  
The Tarriers, The Weavers

Died
  
August 3, 2008, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Albums
  
Erik Darling Sings And Plays

Music groups
  
The Weavers (1958 – 1962), The Rooftop Singers (1962 – 1967)

Similar People
  
Fred Hellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Joan Darling, Pete Seeger

You Don't Know


Erik Darling (September 25, 1933 – August 3, 2008) was an American songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Contents

Erik Darling Erik Darling Collection Field Trip South

Biography

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Darling was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Inspired by the folk music group The Weavers, in the '50s, he formed The Tunetellers, which evolved into The Tarriers with actor/singer Alan Arkin. Their version of the "Banana Boat Song" reached #4 on the Billboard charts.

Erik Darling Erik Darling profile Famous people photo catalog

In April 1958 Darling replaced Pete Seeger in The Weavers, although he continued working club dates with The Tarriers until November 1959. Darling also recorded three solo albums. His second solo effort, True Religion for Vanguard in 1961 was influential on younger folkies of the day. In 1956, he accompanied the Kossoy Sisters on their album, Bowling Green. Additional instrumental work is featured on Banjo Music of the Southern Appalachians (Olympic Records, undated, with Darling's first name misspelled as "Eric" on the album cover). Darling left the Weavers in June 1962 to work as a soloist on the emerging coffeehouse circuit. That summer he formed a jazz-folk trio, The Rooftop Singers, with longtime friend Bill Svanoe and jazz singer Lynn Taylor. Intended as a studio-only project for Vanguard, the group landed an unexpected number one pop hit with a cover of Gus Cannon's 1929 song "Walk Right In". Don McLean, who became friends with Darling in 1961, looked back on Darling as “a genuine philosopher and perfectionist.” He said, “I appreciated the time he spent with me so long ago. Undivided mental attention to every aspect of music making and performing is a hallmark of Erik’s work, and I believe some of that rubbed off on me.”

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In 1967, Darling and Paul Bennett were co-credited for writing the song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," by Quicksilver Messenger Service, which appears to be a medley of Darling's 1958 song "St. John's River", and Joan Baez's recording of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", originally written by Anne Bredon.

He died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from lymphoma at the age of 74.

References

Erik Darling Wikipedia