(b London, 6 Jan 1948; d London, 21 April 1978). English folk-rock singer and songwriter. She began singing at folkclubs while a student at Kingston Art College, then joined the Strawbs, a rock band with whom she recorded one album before joining Fairport Convention. Their 1969 album Unhalfbricking (Isl., 1969) included her best-known song, ‘Who knows where the time goes’ (later a hit for the American singer Judy Collins) and the following year she encouraged the band to add amplified backing to British traditional songs on the classic folk-rock album Leige and Lief (Isl., 1969). Her strong, flexible voice matched both the rousing electric guitar work of Richard Thompson and the fiddle playing of Dave Swarbrick. By the time it was released Denny had formed Fotheringay with the Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas, whom she later married. The band released one album before Denny started a solo career. Her sad and introspective songwriting was shown on the solo albums The North Star Grassman and the Ravens (Isl., 1971), Sandy (Isl., 1972) and Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz (Isl., 1973): her songs were obsessed with death and contained oblique lyrics that seemed at odds with her jovial personality. She moved into rock theatrics, playing the Nurse alongside the Who in Tommy, then rejoined Fairport Convention. She recorded the album Rendezvous (Isl., 1977), before dying from a brain haemorrage after a fall in April 1978. A recording of her final concert was released to mark the 20th anniversary of the death (Isl., 1998).
ROBIN DENSELOW