Nancy Kerr & James Fagan

Bio:

Winners of three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards: Best Duo 2011 and 2003, Horizon Award 2000 Nominated for Best Duo 2007, Best Original Song 2011 (Queen of Waters)• Winner of Spiral Earth Album of the Year 2011 for Twice Reflected Sun Groundbreaking English fiddle player and singer Nancy Kerr and her Aussie partner James Fagan (bouzouki, voice) play a scintillating mix of traditional and contemporary acoustic music drawn mostly from the English and Australian traditions. They are renowned for their beautiful and at times breathtaking instrumentals, strong harmony singing, original and fulsome arrangements and their love of live performance. A night with Kerr and Fagan is always memorable, and their love of interaction with a live audience has become one of their trademarks• Born in London in 1975, the daughter of well-known London singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott, Nancy started playing fiddle at the age of 5. She spent much of her childhood in Northumberland and her playing blossomed under the influence of players like Will Taylor. Her first professional tour as a singer and fiddler was with Alistair Anderson’s Syncopace. Aged 16 she formed a duo with her contemporary Eliza Carthy, and they became well known internationally as part of a new wave of English Folk. They recorded two CDs and also formed a dance/performance band called The Kings of Calicutt with Saul Rose. As well as performing with her mother Sandra, folk-rock outfit Epona and more recently Tim van Eyken’s band, Nancy has always been in demand as a session artist. Her partnership with James Fagan has formed the backbone of her career since 1996. She is also a registered Music Therapist. She likes sci-fi horror films, sharks and coffee• Born in Australia in 1972, James grew up in Sydney surrounded by folk music, thanks to his performing parents Bob and Margaret Fagan. They, James and his sister Kate formed The Fagans, and have toured the Australian folk scene for over 2 decades. They have also toured twice in the UK. James’s first instrument was piano, but by his teens he was singing, playing guitar and clarinet. In 1992 he was given an Irish bouzouki by his dad, and fell in love with the sound. The guitar-shaped bouzouki is now his main instrument, but singing has become his first and foremost musical love. He completed his medical training in 1995 and was on holiday in England when he met Nancy Kerr and they formed the duo which has become the mainstay of their career. James likes wearing hats and well-made boots and always ends up cooking at BBQs. He thinks he would like space travel but has never tried it• Since 1995, Kerr and Fagan have captured the attention of audiences across the world. They tour constantly in the British Isles and have taken their sought-after sound to Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Holland and Belgium. In 2000 they won the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award for Best New Act, which they followed up in 2003 with the inaugural Best Duo award. Kerr and Fagan have toured and recorded with many artists including Martin Simpson, John Kirkpatrick, Eliza Carthy, Tim van Eyken, Andy Irvine, Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton, Alistair Hulett, Robert Harbron and with their respective family bands Scalene (with Sandra Kerr) and Sydney-based The Fagans• Their most recent project is “Kerr Fagan Harbron”, a trio with English concertina player Robert Harbron and 2008 sees the launch of their debut CD “Station House”. www.KerrFaganHarbron.co.uk and www.myspace.com/kerrfaganharbron• “Primo!” Peggy Seeger• “The telepathic and sympathetic interplay of Kerr and Fagan never fails to amaze.” Pay the Reckoning• “Kerr and Fagan have that magic quality of stage presence… they are consummate professionals and a joy to deal with.” Warren Robinson, director, Goderich Celtic Festival, Ontario• “With a hush of magic, May gave us an act that proved to be one of the best performances ever witnessed at Folk on the Moor, and that's in a period of over 20 years! With a priceless blend of love and stunning talent, we sat in awe of the work of Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. Nancy had written a new piece, Break Your Fall, which was so utterly lovely, I felt unbidden tears rolling down my face. Their version of Farewell to the Gold made my soul race, too.” Plymouth Herald, 2007• 2006 marked the tenth anniversary of the duo Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, described by John Kirkpatrick as “quite simply the most refreshing, impressive and compelling combo I’ve seen for ages”. It also saw the release of their fourth studio album Strands of Gold (FECD 199) following their acclaimed 2002 release Between the Dark and Light, which was named in the Observer in 2005 as one of the ten essential English folk albums of all time• Reviewing a 2005 London gig, Pete Fyfe wrote: “Nancy’s fluid style of fiddle playing sounds as if she was born with the instrument in her hands; delicate at times and then thoroughly dramatic the next - the intensity with which she plays shows a passion that any musician would die for. James likewise is in total command of his Sobell bouzouki-guitar providing driving rhythm or well placed clean picked notes that accentuate the intricacies of the melodies. As if that wasn’t enough, both are fine vocalists and their choice of songs combining a balanced mix of traditional and contemporary is a lesson to every aspiring performer in how to construct a set-list.”•

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Member Since:

May 01, 2008

Members:

Nancy Kerr voice/fiddle/viola/autoharp/guitar•James Fagan voice/bouzouki/piano

Influences:

Many and varied, including Will Taylor, Will Atkinson, Martin Carthy, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Leon Rosselson, Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Roy Bailey, Paul Brady, The Watersons, Andy Irvine, Planxty, Steeleye Span, Sally Sloane, Bob Fox and Stu Luckley, Nic Jones, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Alan Burton, Cordelia's Dad, The Johnsons, The Bothy Band, Aly Bain, Dervish, Queen Caroline Hughes, The Smiths, Tommy Peoples, Tom Anderson, Billy Pigg, Billy Bragg, James Hill, Silly Sisters

Sounds Like:

us

Record Label:

www.navigatorrecords.co.uk