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I was idly listening to a programme on Radio 4 yesterday about Annie Briggs, and it rang a distant bell. She was born somewhere locally, used to swim in the Erewash as a child, and became a folk singer of the finger in the ear type.

She mentioned playing with a duo at a club called Bohemia? in Nottingham, and now lives up in the wilds of Scotland. I seem to remember having seen her once or twice. It was a very interesting half hour listen.

 

Does anyone remember her?

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If it was a Nottingham club then Hippo Girl is sure to have known it. Maybe she was Hippy Girl in them days. 

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Thanks for that Cliff. I see that Annie Briggs gets a mention, along with the duo she sang with. I don't recognise the Bo club, but the era is right - 1963/67 - so I guess I must have seen her somewhere else.

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The Bohemian was above a pub at the top of Pelham St and Hockley. Someone will come up with its name. In fact it definitely has been mentioned on several topics.

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The Bohemian Coffee Bar, Fletcher Gate

The Bohemian was slightly before my time but Spike Woods has posted about it on this site.  I only vaguely knew Anne Briggs... I particularly remember her from a higgle at Blackmires Farm in Northants.  She has a truly wonderful voice and took no shit!  Someone told me once she used to live in Lenton Abbey, but she had left a good while before I met her. She lives in Scotland now.

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The pub was the Three Tuns I believe. I also heard that a few years ago, she used to sing in the pubs of Beeston, but I've never seen her, as I left the area years ago. 

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Anne Briggs has a lovely voice and what I suppose you might describe ( in a nice way) as a 'primitive' singing style.  She was also gorgeous and is still beautiful in more recent photos I've seen. I never saw her at the time and the closest I got was probably seeing her contemporaries Bert and John with Pentangle at the Albert Hall around 1967.

She was getting known maybe 4-5 years before I was old enough to get really involved in live music, clubs etc.  She made a couple of albums and an EP all of which are now very sought after.  She moved on from the somewhat 'folk fascist' approach of Ewan McColl, to work with legends such as Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.  From what I read on the sleeve notes of the one CD compilation I have, she also had some sort of abusive relationship, which may have damaged her career. (Can't remember the detail and can't put my hands on the CD so please don't quote me on this)

 

My favourite two songs by Annie:

 

 

 

If I recall correctly that is the late Bert Jansch accompanying on guitar.

 

Col

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  • 6 years later...

Anne moved to a remote Scottish island and pretty much withdrew from music for many years.

She is still with us and there is a decent Wikipedia article about her.

 

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This is another version of She Moved Thro' The Fair by Gloria Furey that I have on a budget compilation CD of Irish folk songs . The use of the drones in the background make this a particularly haunting version .

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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