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Sandy Denny

SANDY DENNY

 
Sandy Denny  (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention.  She has been described as “the pre-eminent British folk rock singer”.  After briefly working with British folk band the Strawbs, Denny joined Fairport Convention in 1968, remaining with that band until the end of 1969.  Between 1971 and 1977, Denny released four solo albums.  She is also noted as the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin studio album, when she shared a duet with Robert Plant for “The Battle of Evermore” on Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album (1971).  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Guest vocalists are another common feature of rock albums and rock concerts. The only time Led Zeppelin used one was when Sandy Denny gave a stirring performance as the second vocalist on “The Battle of Evermore” on their landmark fourth album, Led Zeppelin IV; she even got a special symbol by her name in the musician credits to go with the “ZOSO” symbols used by the four bandmembers.  For those of you who know her only from that song, you owe it to yourself to check out her ground-breaking work on the early albums of Fairport Convention, particularly Liege and Lief, which is generally considered to be the greatest English folk album of all time.  Her alto voice had a purity and a piercing clarity that even most opera divas can’t muster. 
 
(August 2011)
 
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Sandy Denny was invited to join the Strawbs, and they recorded an album together in 1967 that was ultimately released in 1972 as All Our Own Work, under the name Sandy Denny and the Strawbs. 

 

The album includes an early version of one of Sandy Denny’s best-known songs, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”; Denny later recorded “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” with Fairport Convention when she became their lead singer in mid-1968.  Judy Collins heard a demo of the song and decided to include it as the title song of one of her best albums, Who Knows Where the Time Goes.  “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” was also released by Collins as the B-side of her #8 hit single, “Both Sides Now” (written by Joni Mitchell).  I remember raising eyebrows with a friend ages ago; she seemed surprised that I was familiar with “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”, and honestly, at that time I might only have seen the Judy Collins album rather than actually having heard the song. 

 

(July 2014)