Born in Croyden to folk singer Ewan MacColl and dancer Jean Newlove, Kirsty Maccoll sang wisely droll and sometimes heartbreaking lyrics over bright pop songs from 1979-2000. Often falling foul of the fickle nature of the music industry which saw her shunted from label to label, as well as to her own stage fright and spates of writers' block, she nonetheless wrote many classic and enduring pop songs. Best known for her guest-vocal spot on The Pogues Fairytale of New York and for insightful cover versions of songs such as her take on Billy Bragg's A New England she also hit the charts with her own songs, although these were never as widely recognised (shame!). Kirsty died tragically in 2000 when she was hit by a speedboat in a diving-only zone while dragging her son out of its path. Since then most of her solo albums have been reissued, along with an anthology and a Best Of collection.

ALBUMS
Desperate Character Polydor, 1981, no longer available
Kirsty Maccoll Polydor, 1985
Kite Virgin, 1989
Electric Landlady Virgin, 1991
Titanic Days ZZT, 1994
Galore Virgin, 1995
What Do Pretty Girls Do? HUX, 1998
Tropical Brainstorm V2, 2000

Releases

• The Best Of Kirsty MacColl - album, out 01/08/2005 on EMI Records. 1 review (read/post)

Links

• kirstymaccoll.com - official site

User ratings