Barbara Dickson

Barbara Dickson (born Sept. 27, 1947) is a Scottish folk/pop vocalist and actress who first entered showbiz in the late 1960s. Partnered with Glaswegian guitarist/vocalist Archie Fisher, they issued back-to-back duo albums in 1969/70. Her debut solo album, Do Right Woman, appeared in 1970 on Decca. In 1974, she contributed to the cast recording of the Willy Russell Beatles-themed musical John Paul George Ringo … & Bert, which appeared on Robert Stigwood’s RSO label, as did her 1976/77 albums Answer Me and Morning Comes Quickly.

In 1980, Dickson teamed with Cliff Richard/Leo Sayer producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Alan Tarney. The first results of this union, The Barbara Dickson Album, yielded the gigantic ballad “January-February.” Tarney produced two further albums for the singer. In 1985, Dickson dueted with fellow dramatic singer Elaine Paige on a U.K. chart-topping rendition of “I Know Him So Well,” drawn from the Benny Andersson/Tim Rice/Björn Ulvaeus musical Chess.

Background

Barbara Ruth Dickson was born Sept. 27, 1947, in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, to Alastair Dickson and Ruth Malley. Her father served with Liverpool police in World War II and worked as a cook on a tug at Rosyth Dockyard. Her Liverpool-born mother kept classical music, Frank Sinatra, and light opera in the family record collection. Dickson began piano lessons at age five and took up guitar at twelve with a Nick Lucas instruction book.

Dickson attended Camdean Primary School in Rosyth and transferred to Pitcorthie Primary School after her family moved to Ochil Terrace in Dunfermline. She entered Woodmill Junior High School in 1958, where music teacher Sandy Saddler introduced her to records by the Kingston Trio and organized a school folk club. Dickson played Shadows instrumentals with school friends and sang “I Gave My Love a Cherry” with a classmate at a school concert.

Dickson left Woodmill at sixteen and soon began singing at Howff Folk Club in Dunfermline after friends volunteered her for a floor spot. She formed a folk partnership with guitarist and Howff co-founder Jack Beck, and the pair spent three weeks at a summer music festival in Aberdeen. Dickson entered the Civil Service at seventeen with the Admiralty and moved to Edinburgh for a post at the Registrar General’s Office while she continued folk-club work. Beck and Dickson made their recording debut at the January 1965 Folksong ’65 concert with “Waters of Tyne,” included on a privately pressed Lothian double album.

Dickson expanded her local work with appearances at Kinema Ballroom and Green Tree in Dunfermline and a 1966 residency at Rosyth Hotel. She contributed a live “The Dreadnought” to the privately issued Folk Song ’67. Dickson accepted a six-week engagement at Tivoli in Copenhagen in 1968 and resigned from the Civil Service when her leave request failed. She continued full-time folk work and contributed four tracks to the Scottish folk compilation The Golden Bird.

Producer Bill Leader recorded Dickson with singer-guitarist Archie Fisher and fiddler John MacKinnon in Kirkcaldy for the 1969 Trailer album The Fate o’ Charlie. Dickson and Fisher also appeared at the Thurso Folk Festival with Hamish Imlach, who brought Dickson to Sunderland, Sheffield, and Liverpool for three-song floor spots at his Shadows folk-club dates, which led to further bookings across northern England.

Dickson signed with Decca Records in 1970 under her first recording contract. Ray Horricks produced Thro’ the Recent Years, her second album with Fisher and first release for Decca. Horricks then produced Dickson with bassist Ronnie Rae, drummer Bill Kemp, and guitarists Fisher and Rab Noakes on the sessions for her first solo album, Do Right Woman.

Discography:

• The Fate o’ Charlie: Songs of the Jacobite Rebellions (1969 • Archie Fisher / Barbara Dickson / John MacKinnon)
  
• Thro’ the Recent Years (1970 • Archie Fisher & Barbara Dickson)
  
• Do Right Woman (1970)
  
• From the Beggar’s Mantle… Fringed With Gold (1972)
  
• Answer Me (1976)
  
• Morning Comes Quickly (1977)
  
• Sweet Oasis (1978)
  
• The Barbara Dickson Album (1980)
  
• You Know It’s Me (1981)
  
• All for a Song (1982)
  
• Heartbeats (1984)
  
• The Right Moment (1986)