(b Hull, 15 Aug 1939). English traditional singer and folksinger. From a Yorkshire family, she began in the 1960s by singing with her sister Lal, brother Mike and cousin John Harrison as the Watersons, releasing the acclaimed album Frost and Fire (Topic, 1965). They dressed like a typical contemporary rock band, but sang unaccompanied traditional English songs with an intensity that they described as ‘earthy’, acquiring a cult following before breaking up in 1968. After four years as a DJ in Montserrat, Norma returned to Yorkshire, working on a series of family musical projects. She continued to make occasional appearances and recordings with a new line-up of the Watersons, including the guitarist Martin Carthy whom she later married. She then worked with her daughter Eliza Carthy, sister Lal and her daughter Maria as the Waterdaughters. When Lal Waterson stopped touring, Norma began working with Martin and Eliza in a new family group, Waterson: Carthy.
In 1996 she released her first solo album, Norma Waterson, recorded in the USA with a group of musicians that included the guitarist Richard Thompson and Martin and Eliza Carthy. It included only one traditional song alongside versions of songs by Billy Bragg, Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello. Despite its remarkable success, she continued working with her family in Waterson: Carthy, releasing Common Tongue (1997).
Her brother Mike [Michael] Waterson (b Hull, 17 Jan 1941) released a critically acclaimed eponymous album (1977), while her sister Lal Waterson (b 14 Feb 1943; d 4 Sept 1998) recorded Bright Phoebus (1972), an album of songs written by herself and her brother. Later recordings by Lal included those with the Waterdaughters and other combinations of family members; they also included the albums Once in a Blue Moon (Topic, 1996) and the final, reflective A Bed of Roses (1998), both with her son, the guitarist Oliver Knight.
ROBIN DENSELOW, CAROLE PEGG