Kirsty MacColl

Born October 10, 1959, Kirsty was the daughter of celebrated folk singer Ewan MacColl. An accomplished songwriter and pop vocalist, Kirsty originally signed to Stiff Records as a 16-year old after they heard her singing with a punk band called Drug Addix. 

She was most unfortunate not to secure a massive hit with They Don't Know, which many years later would provide a chart hit for television comedienne Tracey Ullman (even though Ullman's was an inferior version).

MacColl had to wait until 1981 for her first chart hit. A change of label to Polydor gave her deserved UK Top 20 success with the witty There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis. Her strong debut album Desperate Characters also signaled her interest in country and pop influences.

In 1984, MacColl married producer Steve Lillywhite, and in the same year she returned to the charts with a stirring version of Billy Bragg's A New England. During the next couple of years she gave birth to two children, but still found herself very in-demand as a backing singer. She guested on recordings by a number of prominent artists, including Simple Minds, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Robert Plant, Morrissey, Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones.

In December 1987, MacColl enjoyed her highest ever chart placing (Number 2) when duetting with Shane McGowan on The Pogues' evocative vignette of Irish emigration, Fairytale Of New York. 

In 1989, Kirsty returned to solo recording with the highly accomplished Kite. The album included the powerful Free World, and an alluring version of The Kinks' Days which brought her back to the UK Top 20.

Johnny Marr (guitarist from The Smiths) played guitar on several of the album tracks, and also appeared on the excellent follow-up released  in 1991, Electric Landlady (a pun on Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland). This was another strong album that demonstrated MacColl's diversity and songwriting prowess. The haunting, dance-influenced Walking Down Madison gave her another Top 40 UK hit.

MacColl returned over five years later with the sparkling Latin American collection, Tropical Brainstorm.

Unfortunately her revived career was cut short by a tragic accident in December. The singer was hit and killed by a speedboat while swimming with her children off the coast of Mexico while on holiday.

She had recently finished recording a series on Cuba for BBC Radio 2.