Sean Lakeman
Sean Lakeman (born 1974), is an English folk musician and record producer.
Early life
He was brought up in the village of Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon U.K. with his brothers, fellow folk musicians Seth Lakeman and Sam Lakeman. He began playing guitar at the age of six, playing with his parents and brothers in a family band.
Career
In his early career he partnerered Tom McConville on the UK folk club circuit, and from the early 1990s, played as part of the ’Lakeman Brothers’, with brothers Seth on violin and Sam on piano. The trio wrote and produced the album Three Piece Suite (1994), upon which Kathryn Roberts was a guest singer for two tracks.[1]
Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby asked the Lakeman Brothers to accompany them as a backing band for a tour of Portugal in September 1994. On their return to the UK the five agreed to form a permanent band and Equation was born.[2] Shortly after Cara Dillon replaced Kate Rusby in the summer of 1995, they signed a record deal with Blanco y Negro (part of Warner Music Group) and recorded an album at Peter Gabriel's Realworld Studios in winter 1995-'96. The album, entitled Return to Me, was produced by David Bottrill. There was a single release, "He Loves Me", with an accompanying promotional video.[3] The band performed on MTV and VH1, but weeks before the release of the album the record label shelved it. It was not released in 1996, but in 2003 it saw a release under Rough Trade after Geoff Travis (the band's former manager) bought its rights. The band toured throughout the UK, Europe and completed 10 tours in the USA. The line-up would change over the years but Sean and Kathryn were constants as the Equation went on to produce four albums: Return To Me (recorded 1996, released 2003), Hazy Daze (1998), The Lucky Few (1999), First Name Terms (2004), and The Dark Ages EP (2001).
Alongside this, Sean has toured and recorded three duo albums with Kathryn Roberts: 1 recorded in 2001 and 2 recorded in 2003, and after a 9 year hiatus, 'Hidden People' released in 2012, as well as continuing to tour with his brother Seth as the guitarist in his band.
He produced and recorded the first four albums for his brother Seth, including Freedom Fields, which went gold in the UK and was voted BBC folk album of the year, and the Mercury music prize nominated Kitty Jay, and Poor Man's Heaven which were both certified Silver in the UK. His production credits also include 2 highly acclaimed albums for The Levellers, Carus Thompson, Show of Hands and Rev Hammer.
Personal life
Sean lives with Kathryn Roberts, and they have twin daughters, Poppy and Lily, born 1 July 2007.