| Kirsty MacColl | |
|---|---|
Kirsty MacColl at the Double Door in Chicago |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kirsty Anna MacColl |
| Born | 10 October 1959 Croydon, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 18 December 2000 (aged 41) Cozumel, Mexico |
| Genres | New Wave, Pop, Rock, Country, Folk, World Music |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1979–2000 |
| Labels | Stiff, Polydor, IRS, ZTT, V2 |
| Website | KirstyMacColl.com |
Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was an English singer-songwriter.
MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. During this era, she often sang on recordings produced by her husband Steve Lillywhite, notably those of The Smiths and the song "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues.
MacColl was killed in a controversial boating incident in Mexico.
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Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl and dancer Jean Newlove. She and her brother, Hamish MacColl, grew up with their mother in Croydon, where she attended Park Hill Primary School and Monks Hill High School, making appearances in school plays. At the time of MacColl's birth, her father had been in a relationship with folksinger, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Peggy Seeger since 1956 (a relationship that would continue until his death in 1989), and already had a son with her.
She came to notice when Chiswick Records released an EP by local punk rock band the Drug Addix with MacColl on backing vocals under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt (1978). Stiff Records executives were not impressed with the band, but liked her and subsequently signed her to a solo deal.
Her debut solo single "They Don't Know", released in 1979, peaked at number 2 in terms of airplay on the Music Week airplay chart.[1][2] However, a distributors' strike prevented copies of the single getting into record stores, and the single consequently failed to appear on the UK Singles Chart.
MacColl recorded a follow-up single, "You Caught Me Out", but felt she lacked Stiff's full backing, and left the label shortly before the song was to be released. The single was pulled, and only a few "white label" promo copies of the single are known to exist.
MacColl moved to Polydor Records in 1981. She had a UK number 14 hit with "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis", taken from her critically acclaimed debut album Desperate Character. In 1983, Polydor dropped her just as she had completed recording the songs for a planned second album (to be called Real) which used more synthesizers and had New Wave-styled tracks. She returned to Stiff, where pop singles such as "Terry" and "He's On the Beach" were unsuccessful but a cover of Billy Bragg's "A New England" in 1985 got to Number 7 in the UK charts. This included two extra verses specially written for her by Bragg. Also around this time, MacColl wrote and performed the theme song "London Girls" for Channel 4's short-lived sitcom Dream Stuffing (1984).
In the United States, MacColl was probably most recognisable as the writer of "They Don't Know". Tracey Ullman's version, helped by a video guest-starring Paul McCartney, reached Number 2 in the UK in 1983 and the Top Ten in North America. It was also played over the closing credits of Ullman's HBO show Tracey Takes On in 1996. Ullman also recorded three more of MacColl's songs, "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" and "You Caught Me Out", as the title tracks of her first and second albums respectively, and "Terry" which was released as a single in 1985.
When Stiff went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl was left unable to record in her own right, as no record company bought her contract from the Official Receiver. However, she had regular session work as a backing vocalist, and she frequently sang on records produced or engineered by her husband, Steve Lillywhite, including tracks for Robert Plant, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Big Country, Crossfire Choir, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (of ABBA), and The Wonder Stuff among others. She appeared in the videos "Welcome to the Cheap Seats" for The Wonder Stuff and "(Nothing But) Flowers" for Talking Heads (along with ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr).
MacColl re-emerged in the British charts in December 1987, reaching Number 2 with The Pogues on "Fairytale of New York", a duet with Shane MacGowan. This led to her accompanying The Pogues on their British and European tour in 1988, an experience which she said helped her temporarily overcome her stage fright.[3] In March 1989, MacColl sang backing vocals on the Happy Mondays' Hallelujah EP.
After the contract issue was resolved, MacColl returned to recording as a solo artist and received critical acclaim upon the release of Kite (LP) in 1989. The album was widely praised by critics, and featured collaborations with David Gilmour and Johnny Marr. MacColl's lyrics addressed life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain on "Free World", ridiculed the vapidity of fame in "Fifteen Minutes", and addressed the vagaries of love in "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" Although Kite contained many original compositions, MacColl's biggest chart success from the album would be the cover of The Kinks' song "Days", which gave her a UK Top 20 hit in July 1989. A bonus track on the CD version of Kite was a cover of the Smiths song "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby".
During this time, MacColl was also featured on the British sketch comedy French and Saunders, appearing as herself, singing songs including "15 Minutes" and "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim!" (from Kite), "Still Life" (the B-side of the "Days" single), "Girls On Bikes" (a reworking of B-side "Am I Right?") and, with comedy duo Raw Sex, the Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit "Something Stupid". She continued to write and record, releasing the album Electric Landlady (coined by Johnny Marr, a play on the Jimi Hendrix album title Electric Ladyland), including her most successful chart hit in North America, "Walking Down Madison" (co-written with Marr and a Top 30 hit in the UK), in 1991. Despite the song's U.S. chart success, Landlady was not a hit for Virgin Records, and in 1992, when Virgin was sold to EMI, MacColl was dropped from the label.
She released Titanic Days, informed by her failing marriage with Lillywhite,[4] in 1993, but ZTT Records had agreed only to release the album as a "one-off" and declined to sign her to a contract. In 1995, she released two new singles on Virgin, "Caroline" and a cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (a duet with Evan Dando), together with the "best of" compilation Galore.
Galore became MacColl's only album to reach the top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, but neither of the new singles, nor a re-released "Days", made the Top 40. MacColl would not record again for several years; her frustration with the music business was exacerbated by a lengthy case of writer's block. MacColl herself admitted that she was ready to give up her music career and become an English teacher in South America.
In 1998, the album What Do Pretty Girls Do? was released, containing BBC Radio 1 live sessions (featuring Billy Bragg on two songs) that were broadcast between 1989 and 1995.
After several trips to Cuba and Brazil, MacColl recorded the world music-inspired (particularly Cuban and other Latin American forms) Tropical Brainstorm, which was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. It included the song "In These Shoes", which garnered airplay in the U.S., was covered by Bette Midler and featured in the HBO show Sex and the City. It would later (after MacColl's death) be adopted by Catherine Tate as the theme tune for her BBC TV show and feature on the soundtrack to British film Kinky Boots.
MacColl featured regularly in the third series of the French and Saunders Show, a comedy show on the BBC. Unlike other guests on the show, she was not part of any of the sketches but would sing her songs whilst performing as in a music video. She also made regular appearances on Jools Holland's TV shows, also on the BBC.
In 2000, following her participation in the presentation of a radio programme she had done for the BBC on Cuba,[5] MacColl took a holiday in Cozumel, Mexico, with her sons and her partner, musician James Knight. On 18 December 2000, she and her sons went diving in Cozumel, in a specific diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. With the group was a local veteran divemaster, Iván Díaz. As the group was surfacing from a dive, a speeding powerboat entered the restricted area. MacColl saw the boat coming before her sons did; Louis was not in the boat's path, but Jamie was. She was able to push him out of the way (he sustained minor head and rib injuries) but in doing so, she was hit by the boat and killed instantly.[6] MacColl's remains were repatriated to the United Kingdom and the subsequent funeral took place at Mortlake Crematorium in London.
The boat involved in the accident was owned by Mexican supermarket millionaire Guillermo González Nova, who was on board with several members of his family. An employee of González Nova's, boathand José Cen Yam, claimed to have been driving the boat at the time that the accident occurred.[7] Several published reports have included accounts from eyewitnesses that have stated Cen Yam was not at the controls; eyewitnesses also indicate that the boat was travelling much faster than the speed of one knot that Nova had claimed.[8] Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to 2 years 10 months in prison. However, he was allowed under Mexican law to pay a punitive fine of 1,034 pesos (about €63, £61, or US$90) in lieu of the prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay approximately US$2,150 in restitution to MacColl's family, an amount based on his wages. Published reports have included statements from people who spoke to Cen Yam after the accident, claiming Cen Yam had received money for taking the blame for the incident.[7][9]
MacColl's family launched the Justice For Kirsty campaign in response to the events surrounding her death. Among the group's efforts:
In December 2009, it was announced that the Justice For Kirsty campaign was being ended since "the committee was successful in achieving most of its aims" and "it is unlikely that any more could be achieved." The campaign's remaining funds were to be divided between two charities, Casa Alianza Mexico and Cuba Music Solidarity, of which "Kirsty would have approved."[13]
Since MacColl's death, Billy Bragg has always included "her" extra verses when performing "A New England". She was honoured in 2002 with a memorial concert in London at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring a number of musicians that had worked with her or been influenced by her. A similar memorial concert was scheduled for her birthday (10 October 2010) at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, to support her favourite charity The Music Fund for Cuba.[14]
In 2001, a bench was placed by the southern entrance to London's Soho Square as a memorial to her, after a lyric from one of her most poignant songs: "One day I'll be waiting there / No empty bench in Soho Square". Every year on the Sunday nearest to MacColl's birthday, 10 October, fans from all over the world hold a gathering at the bench to pay tribute to her and sing her songs.
MacColl continues to receive media exposure; in 2004, Kirsty MacColl:The One and Only, a biography of MacColl written by Karen O'Brien, was published. A retrospective three-CD set spanning her full career, From Croydon To Cuba, was released in 2005. Titanic Days was re-released in 2005 as a deluxe 2CD set, and Kite and Electric Landlady were also remastered and rereleased with additional tracks. Her first album, Desperate Character, remained out of print as of late June 2010, but some selections from that work were included in the box set. On 7 August 2005, The Best of Kirsty MacColl, a single-disc compilation that included a "new" single, "Sun on the Water," made its debut on the UK album charts at number 17, climbing to #12 a week later.
MacColl's collaboration with the Pogues, "Fairytale of New York," remains a perennial Christmas favourite. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, it was voted favourite Christmas song in a poll by music video channel VH1. [15] The song was re-released in the UK in December 2005, with proceeds being split between the Justice for Kirsty Campaign and charities for the homeless. The re-release reached number 3 on the UK charts, and spent five weeks in the top 75 over the Christmas and New Year period. It reached the top 10 for the third time in its history in 2006, peaking at number 6, and charted yet again in December 2007, when there was brief controversy over the use of the word 'faggot' in the lyrics, which BBC Radio 1 dubbed out "to avoid offence," 20 years after it had first passed over the airwaves without comment (or apparent offence, although the rhyme had been changed to "haggard" for a St Patrick's Day concert in 1998); following criticism from listeners and MacColl's mother, Radio 1 reversed their decision later in the day.[16] The song has also made the Top 20 in the two subsequent years, and has now charted in eight separate years. With the exception of the 2005 re-release, the seasonal re-charting in the 21st Century is due to download sales, and not due to further releases (download sales counting toward the singles chart since 2005).
| Release Date | Album | UK Albums Chart |
|---|---|---|
| July 1981 | Desperate Character | - |
| July 1989 | Kite | 34 |
| June 1991 | Electric Landlady | 17 |
| October 1993 | Titanic Days | 46 |
| March 2000 | Tropical Brainstorm | 39 |
| Release Date | Album | UK Albums Chart | Noted |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1985 | Kirsty MacColl | - | A re-worked version of Desperate Character |
| August 1993 | The Essential Collection | - | A collection of Stiff-era tracks |
| March 1995 | Galore | 6 | Best-of compilation, with 2 new tracks |
| July 1998 | What Do Pretty Girls Do? | - | Compiled 'BBC Radio 1' sessions (live) |
| August 2001 | The One and Only | - | Stiff-era tracks, and a few collaborations |
| May 2005 | From Croydon To Cuba... An Anthology | - | 3-disc box set of hits and rarities |
| July 2005 | The Best of | 12 | Single-disc greatest hits |
| Year | Song | UK Singles Chart[17] | Irish Top 30 | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1979 | "They Don't Know" | - | - | - |
| February 1981 | "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" | - | - | |
| May 1981 | "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" | 14 | 9 | Desperate Character |
| September 1981 | "See That Girl" | - | - | |
| November 1981 | "You Still Believe in Me" | - | - | - |
| 1983 | "I Want Out" (with Matchbox) | - | - | |
| August 1983 | "Berlin" | - | - | |
| October 1983 | "Terry" | 81 | - | |
| December 1984 | "A New England" | 7 | 8 | |
| June 1985 | "He's On the Beach" | - | - | |
| November 1987 | "Fairytale of New York" (with The Pogues) | 2 | 1 | If I Should Fall from Grace with God (Pogues album) |
| March 1989 | "Free World" | 43 | - | Kite |
| June 1989 | "Days" | 12 | 9 | |
| September 1989 | "Innocence" | 80 | - | |
| April 1990 | "Don't Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" | 82 | - | |
| November 1990 | "Miss Otis Regrets"/"Just One of Those Things" (with The Pogues) | 85 | - | Red Hot + Blue (Produced by the Red Hot Organization) |
| May 1991 | "Walking Down Madison" | 23 | 12 | Electric Landlady |
| July 1991 | "My Affair" | 56 | - | |
| September 1991 | "All I Ever Wanted" | - | - | |
| November 1991 | "Fairytale of New York" (with The Pogues) (re-issue) | 36 | 10 | - |
| November 1993 | "Angel" | - | - | Titanic Days |
| February 1995 | "Caroline" | 58 | - | Galore |
| June 1995 | "Perfect Day" | 75 | - | |
| July 1995 | "Days" (re-issue) | 42 | - | Kite |
| November 1999 | "Mambo de la Luna" | 119 | - | Tropical Brainstorm |
| February 2000 | "In These Shoes" | 98 | - | |
| July 2005 | "Sun On the Water" | - | - | The Best of Kirsty MacColl |
| December 2005 | "Fairytale of New York" (with The Pogues) (2nd re-issue) | 3 | 4 |
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