The Kirsty Primer

Young Kirsty Anna MacColl was born in Croydon, South London on 10th October 1959. Her father was the legendary folk singer Ewan MacColl, but she grew up seeing him only at weekends, being raised by her dancer/choreographer mother, Jean Newlove along with brother Hamish. Being older, it was Hamish's record collection which the young Kirsty commandeered to immerse herself in the sounds of the Beach Boys and Neil Young, which she credited with inspiring her love of harmonies and songwriting skills.

Addix In 1978, Kirsty joined a minor league band called (in the spirit of the times) the Drug Addix, masquerading as Mandy Doubt. They released one EP on Chiswick Records, and Kirsty then spent the rest of her life trying to pretend it never happened! On the back of some demos for Stiff Records, Kirsty was auditioned as a solo singer and, having none, had to come up with a song pronto - so she wrote They don't know, and it became her first single in June 1979.

Chip Shop Even in those early days, Kirsty soon discovered how fickle the record business is and, having recorded another single co-written and backed by the Boomtown Rats, she found herself off the label and the single binned. Off to Polydor then and, after her rather fine cover of the Goffin/King hit Keep your hands off my baby did nothing, in May 1981 she hit No. 14 in the UK chart with the highest ranking composition of her entire career - There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis, a witty rocking number pointing the finger at lying scoundrels everywhere, a theme she would return to with relish throughout her songwriting life.

Early Pic An album, Desperate Character, was put out on Polydor featuring a collection of snappy Kirsty songs along with a few covers of 60s songs. It didn't trouble the charts, and was in fact unknown to all but her most long serving and devoted fans from the time. Another two singles - the self-penned See that girl and the Beach Boys cover You still believe in me were unjustly ignored prior to Polydor parting company with Kirsty.

Terry After a one off collaboration with rockabilly outfit Matchbox and one single for North of Watford records which nobody has ever set eyes on, she returned to the Stiff label and promptly released what really should have been her second hit, the fine song Terry (is as tough as Marlon Brando). That success eluded her for just two months however, and in December 1984 she hit No. 7 with her version of Billy Bragg's A new England. Her knack for spotting a killer song and her persuasiveness in having the song's author write an extra verse just for her paid off with what would be the biggest solo chart success of her career. The next single, He's on the beach six months later inexplicably got nowhere and her second spell with Stiff came to an end.

Morrissey & KM In November 1987, Kirsty got to No. 2 in the chart performing with the Pogues on the now perennial Christmas hit, Fairytale of New York, but having met husband Steve Lillywhite at a Simple Minds session in 1983 she largely spent the second half of the 80s raising her two sons, with periodic appearances as a backing singer for a range of top acts of the day before returning to the studio with Virgin for the 1989 release of what many still consider to be her best album, Kite. Preceded by the minor hit and inspiration for this site, Free world in February, the album came out in April and reached No.34 in the album chart. A second hit, the Kinks cover Days followed, reaching No. 12.

Titanic Miss Otis regrets was recorded, again with the Pogues, for the AIDS awareness project Red Hot & Blue and with their help, Kirsty returned to live performance having been rather put off by an early experience touring the ballrooms of Ireland. In 1991 she teamed up with Smiths guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr on much of her next album, Electric Landlady. This was heralded by the track many Americans know best, Walking down Madison; the album also featured Kirsty's first fully formed attempt at using a Latin approach (kindled by her work in New York on a David Byrne album) with the always popular My affair before being dumped by Virgin and hitting a slump including the breakup of her marriage to Steve Lillywhite.

Not being one to give up however, Kirsty bounced back in 1994 with her "sad divorce album", Titanic Days, a bit of a favourite around Freeworld Towers. This time the single announcing the album's imminent arrival was the slow, resigned yet haunting Angel (floating round this house). Also featured was a song which was to become one of her fans' favourites and the inspiration for their memorial gesture years later - Soho Square. Kirsty later said that had she realised how much people liked it she would have chosen to include the song on her Galore retrospective in 1995. The album was largely low key, yet beautiful. Galore itself was a highly successful collection, and added two new songs - "Jolene's revenge" song, Caroline, and a cover of Lou Reed's Perfect Day with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads. It reached No.6 in the UK chart, and stayed in the chart for 27 weeks.

Then everything went quiet as far as the record buying public were concerned. This website was started in late 1995 and spent several frustrating years cataloguing Kirsty's past but at times despairing of ever having anything new to report. During this spell though, Kirsty was finding her feet again having almost decided to give up the music business completely, getting busy and touring South America and Cuba extensively. An excellent collection of old radio sessions was put out in 1998 by Hux Records which reminded everyone how much they loved Kirsty's performances, and in early 1999 Kirsty fell in love again and started to work on a bunch of new material which she'd started out in Brazil and in Cuba, meshing Latin rhythms to the traditional knowing lyrics and great tunes which comprise "Kirsty songs". She proclaimed herself "a Latin soul trapped in an English body" and got to work in Pete Glenister and Dave Ruffy's studio in Bermondsey.

Classic The resulting tracks, featuring samples from Kirsty's by now extensive collection of Cuban records brought back from her numerous trips, were to become acclaimed as her finest hour - the album Tropical Brainstorm is now seen as roughly the equal of Kite many years before. Which is actually better of course is down to your personal tastes. Kirsty assembled a stunning touring band complete with horn section and ebullient Colombian bass player.

She had already started work on her next album and was working on various side projects when she decided to take a well earned break after a year of promo and touring, going to Mexico with her partner and two sons. On December 18th 2000 her love of diving cost Kirsty her life when a large speedboat hit her off the coast of Cozumel island. The following days her photo was prominent on almost all the British newspapers and it became apparent how substantial her support amongst the public was, though she had only latterly begun to appreciate it herself. At her public memorial service, major rock stars and television actors mingled freely with the public, everyone united in their grief.

Drinks Her music lives on as testimony to her skills as a wordsmith and arranger of lasting quality songs. Her qualities as a person live on in the memories of her family and friends.

Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of Kirsty's career can be found in these pages. This is Freeworld. Thank you for visiting.

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The Kirsty Primer

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