All the Joans, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, Van Morrison , Willie Nelson, Harry Neilsen, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Dori Previn, Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton , Mr Davis, my Welsh headmaster @ Primary School who taught us from "The Community Songbook", my grandparents, singing on car journeys with my family when we were kids - songs learned from the radio and basically everyone I have ever listened to from unaccompanied in tiny folk clubs to live shows in giant stadiums to learning nursery rhymes on mothers knee to teaching them to my own child and to recordings by people like Alan Lomax and George Martin. Bless you all!
Sounds Like
" Honest songs ... delicate , ethereal " – Wells Journal / " … a beautiful c.d. ‘Learning to Walk’ showcasing her pure as cut glass vocals" - The Cornish Guardian / " … warm, engaging performance" – The Western Morning News / "A lovely collection of songs..sung with sincerity and feeling" - C.D.Baby
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Soulful, poignant and delicate are just some of the words being used to describe the music of West country-based singer/songwriter Diana Johnstone. Born in Plymouth, Devon, Diana began singing and playing guitar in her late teens at the famous Folk Cottage in Mitchell, Cornwall, performing alongside Mike Silver, Clive Palmer and Ralph McTell. There she met and subsequently married multi-instrumentalist, Davey Johnstone (Magna Carta, Noel Murphy, Joan Armatrading.)
In 1972, Davey was asked to join the Elton John band just as the Rocket Mans career was heading into the stratosphere. For Davey, Diana and their son Tam the next few years would be spent in a whirlwind of whistle stop tours and incredible celebrity encounters: Groucho Marx at the Beverly Hills hotel, Stevie Wonder ..boards aboard the Starship (Eltons private plane), Gracie Fields, John Lennon During this time, Davey recorded a solo album for Eltons Rocket Records label with legendary record producer Gus Dudgeon at the helm. The album, Smiling Face (now remastered and released on Sound City records) features three songs co-written by Diana. She also sings lead vocals on the track A Lovely Day (as featured in playwright Willie Russells Daughters of Albion - Yorkshire TV, 1977.)
When Diana and Davey divorced in the mid-1970s, Diana took up a career in film and TV set design (working with director Nic Roeg and actor Tony Curtis among others), before coming back to music in the late 1990s. On moving to the Bath area she began writing and performing her own material again. Her unique style of playing combined with her thoughtful lyrics and mesmerizing voice has already attracted a keen following. This, along with her well-received live performances has ensured that Diana Johnstone is definitely one to watch among the new breed of innovative female singer/songwriters.
Dianas debut CD, Learning to Walk is available now.
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Hi Diana Thanks very much for becoming a friend of The Living Tradition. We are re-launching our myspace to include more gig dates and news than it is possible to include in The Living Tradition magazine. To keep up to date with news and gigs from around the UK folk music scene please subscribe to our BLOG and our FRIEND UPDATES on your myspace home - and don't forget to tell us what you are up to. If you haven't seen the mag recently and would like a free back issue, please send us a message with your name and postal address. Or if you would like to subscribe to the magazine the details are on our page. All the best The Living Tradition team
JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU
FOR ADDING ME ON...
IT MEANS ALOT TO ME...
I HOPE ALL IS WELL IN YOUR WORLD...
AND I WISH YOU NOTHING BUT THE BEST...
TAKE CARE...
T. RYBKA
Thanks for your lovely comment Diana. The SouthBank club is a small but intimate venue in Bristol, great feel and doing a great varity of music so I'm only telling you as I think they need all the help they can get to get their venue on the map. See you another time somewhere. Hope to hear you live sometime. All the best. Jo
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