The Englishfolksinger, songwriter and guitarist Beverley Martyn has died aged 79.
Born Beverley Kutner on March 24, 1947 near Coventry, she started out performing vocals and 12-string guitar in mid-’60s jug band The Levee Breakers, playing the folk circuit in south east England.
The Levee Breakers’ single “Babe I’m Leaving You” was released in 1965; that same year, she also appeared on the sleeve of Bert Jansch’s album, It Don’t Bother Me.
Signed to Decca’s new Deram imprint as a solo artist, she recorded a brace of singles during 1966 and 1967, produced by Denny Cordell and featuring Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins, John Renbourn and Andy White.
Written by Randy Newman, “Happy New Year” was the first single release on Deram.
After befriending Paul Simon, she was invited to guest on Simon & Garfunkel’s 1967 album Bookends, delivering a spoken word segment on the track “Fakin’ It”; she also appeared as their guest at the Monterey Pop Festival.
The following year, she met John Martyn, whom she married.
They collaborated on two albums,Stormbringer! (recorded in Woodstock)andThe Road To Ruin (both 1970), before Martyn resumed his solo career.
Beverley continued to be involved with Martyn’s career until their divorce in 1980, when she retired from music.
She made a comeback in the late ’80s, touring with Loudon Wainwright III and recording with Wilko Johnson in the ’90s. She released two solo albums: No Frills in 1998 and The Phoenix And The Turtle in 2014.
Speaking to Uncut in 2014, she reflected on the autobiographical nature of The Phoenix And The Turtle.
“My Last album was No Frills in about 2000, but I’ve always kept singing. We started work about two years ago, but stopped for a while because I was quite ill. It was recorded in Wales, in Mark Pavey’s studio. I would start just with guitar and a click track, and through the magic of computer we’d send a track to Matt Malley, ex-Counting Crows, and Victor Bisetti, ex-Los Lobos, in California. They would put the bass and drums on, then other things were added. It still has that in-a-room feel, it sounds like an old style analogue record. It’s very me, very transatlantic.
“I’ve recorded ‘Going To Germany’ and ‘When The Levee Breaks’, which are songs I used to do with my old ‘6os jug band, The Levee Breakers. ‘Reckless Jane, was started in ’74 with Nick Drake. When John Martyn and I lived in Hampstead, Nick lived one stop down the tube line, he’d come and babysit sometimes. We started writing ‘Reckless Jane’ one day as a bit of a joke. I had the guitar and he was sitting on the floor, trying to look small and not be in the way, as usual! I couldn’t look at it for a long time after he died, but finally I decided to finish it. It’s a pastoral English thing – the strings are a tribute to Nick. ‘Women And Malt Whisky’ is about John.
There’s a verse about our son, who is a bit wild. He didn’t have a good father’s hand, John didn’t teach him good things. Another line is about Davy Graham, John’s hero, and Bobby Dylan, who was mine. The whole album is very personal.”
A memoir, Sweet Honesty – The Beverley Martyn Story, was published in 2011.