New sandy denny biography books
Mick Houghton's new biography of Sandy Denny explores her life and art..
I’ve Always Kept A Unicorn: The Biography of Sandy Denny
by Mick Houghton (Faber 502 pp).
Review by Andy Childs
Sandy Denny is widely acknowledged by all who knew and heard her as the finest female singer of her generation by some distance.
Her singing had the power to move grown men to tears and to put her contemporaries and rivals firmly in their place. Even today artists as accomplished as Rachel Unthank are in awe of her voice – “don’t listen to her!
Part two of the biography, 'The Solo Years' starts at chapter 8 with the breakup of Fotheringay, financial problems, more pressure to make a solo break, and.
You’ll realise that the rest of us are wasting your time”. Yet because she was always portrayed and generally perceived as a folk-singer she was never a true commercial success and never received the wider recognition that her talent should have made possible.
She was also, like an awful of people with a rare talent, a deeply flawed character which, combined with the frustrations of an under-achieving career resulted in a tragic, premature conclusion and an enduring fascination.
In this new biogr