Fisherman's Friends
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Fisherman's Friends | |
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Fisherman's Friends performing at Port Isaac
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Background information | |
Origin | Port Isaac, Cornwall, UK |
Genres | Sea shanties |
Years active | 1995–present |
Labels | Universal Music |
Website | www |
Members | John Brown Julian Brown Jeremy Brown John Lethbridge Billy Hawkins Jason Nicholas Peter Rowe John McDonnell Jon Cleave |
Past members | Trevor Grills Nigel Sherratt |
Fisherman's Friends are a male singing group from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who sing sea shanties.[1] They have been performing locally since 1995, and signed a record deal with Universal Music in March 2010. Whilst essentially an a cappella group, their studio recordings now often include traditional simple instrumentation.
Contents
Biography
The members are: John Brown, Julian Brown, Jeremy Brown (these first three being brothers), John Lethbridge, Billy Hawkins, Jason Nicholas, Peter Rowe, John McDonnell and Jon Cleave. At 78, Peter Rowe is the oldest member, as of June 2012.
All the members of the group "grew up within half a mile of Port Isaac harbour" except for John McDonnell who is a Yorkshireman. Three are fishermen, and the others are linked to the sea through service as coastguards or lifeboatmen.
Jon Cleave is the MC of the group and also the author/illustrator of the children's book series Gully[2] as well as the full length, humorous novel Nasty Pasty.[3]
They sing the chorus on Show of Hands' popular song Cousin Jack on Show of Hands' "best of" Cd "Roots".
Repertoire
Their repertoire is extremely varied and includes both shanties and other nautical songs, some of which are fairly lewd.[4]
Gigs
They performed at the 2010 Cornbury music festival in Oxfordshire,[5] the Glastonbury Festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival.[6] They also often perform in Port Isaac, regularly singing on the beach in the Summer Holidays.
Recordings
The group had released two CDs themselves before signing with Universal. In 2002 Port Isaac’s ‘Fishermen’s Friends’ recorded an album, primarily to raise funds for the RNLI, which was released on the Clovelly Label, Catalogue Number CLCD12702. The Album, titled ‘Fishermen’s Friends are Home from the Sea’, has 20 tracks and was recorded in St Peter’s Church Port Isaac on the 26 & 27 April 2002. All the tracks are sung in the traditional a cappella style. The album was engineered by Bob Whitney and Produced by John Perkins. Their first album with Universal, Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends, was recorded in St Kew Parish Church, Cornwall,[7] and released in April 2010.[6]
A second album with Universal, 'One and All' was released on 26 August 2013 [8]
In 2010 they re-recorded their single, "No Hopers, Jokers or Rogues", with new lyrics, in support of England's World Cup campaign in South Africa.[9]
The single Mary Anne, taken from the album was released on 25 June 2013 [10]
Television
Gareth Malone's documentary on sea shanties, shown in May 2010 on BBC 4, included a contribution from the group.[11] The Fisherman's Friends have also starred in an advert for fish company, Young's.
Awards
At the 2011 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Fisherman's Friends received The Good Tradition Award for keeping folk music alive and bringing it to new audiences.[12]
Guildford incident
On 9 February 2013 a heavy steel door fell while the G Live venue in Guildford was being prepared for a Fisherman's Friends show, killing their tour manager Paul McMullen. Singer Trevor Grills suffered serious head injuries,[13] and died in hospital two days later.[14][15]
Discography
Albums
Album Title | Album details | Chart positions | Certification |
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UK | |||
Suck'em and Sea |
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— | |
Another Mouthful From ... The Fisherman's Friends |
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— | |
Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends |
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9[16] | |
One And All |
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29[16] |
Singles
- 2006: Show of Hands - "Roots" (Fisherman's Friends sing the chorus)
- 2013: "Mary Anne"
References
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External links
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- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from July 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Use British English from October 2010
- Musical groups established in 1995
- Cornish folk music groups
- A cappella musical groups
- Sea shanties
- Universal Music Group artists
- 1995 establishments in England