THE PROG INTERVIEW MADDY PRIOR
“I tend to plough my own furrow. I’m focused on what I’m doing and not comparing it with what other people are doing,” says Maddy Prior as Prog rounds up an afternoon’s talk about her early life and Steeleye Span reaching 50-plus years. And maybe because of that outlook, Prior is probably one of the most recognisable voices in folk, and folk rock music – and her face is pretty recognisable too, after a string of hits in the early 70s with Steeleye Span led them to be staples of shows such as Top Of The Pops.
From an early age Prior loved to sing, and was encouraged to do so and take part in competitions. In the late 50s the family relocated from Blackpool due to her father’s job – drama writer and novelist Allan Prior co-created hit TV show Z-Cars and later Howard’s Way – and Prior found herself in the Roman town of St Albans, which had a thriving music scene and was a folk epicentre.
Meeting like-minds such as Donovan and Mac MacLeod in the local folk clubs, in 1965 she teamed up with guitarist/vocalist Tim Hart both professionally and romantically and formed a duo that went on to release two albums on TeePee Records, Folk Songs Of Old England, volumes 1 and 2. By 1969 Prior and Hart wanted a change, and it came in the form of former Fairport Convention founder and bassist Ashley Hutchings. Together they created an electric folk band, Steeleye Span, whose popularity remains today, largely because of their enormous, resonant 1975 hit All Around My Hat. While in Steeleye Span, Prior would meet her future husband, bassist Rick Kemp, who replaced the departing Hutchings in 1972 (he was off to form The Albion Band).
Prior has released solo albums, joined June Tabor as the duo Silly Sisters, played with The Carnival Band and guested with
