Kathryn Tickell
{{Short description|English musician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Kathryn Tickell
OBE, DL
| image = Tickell_2004.jpg
| caption = Kathryn Tickell in Lorient, Brittany, 2004
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1967|6|8}}
| birth_place = Walsall, Staffordshire, England
| genre = Traditional, folk, Celtic
| occupation = Musician, composer
| instrument = Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle
| years_active = 1984–present
| label = Black Crow, Park, Resilient
| associated_acts = Sting
| website = {{URL|www.kathryntickell.com}}
}}
Kathryn Tickell, OBE, DL (born 8 June 1967) is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle.{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Du Noyer|year= 2003|title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music|edition=1st| publisher=Flame Tree Publishing|location=Fulham, London|isbn= 1-904041-96-5|page=282}}
Music career
=Early life=
Kathryn Tickell was born in Walsall, to parents who originated from Northumberland and who moved back there from Staffordshire with the family when Kathryn was seven.{{cite web|last1=Hickman|first1=Pamela|title=Kathryn Tickell talks about Northumbrian music, about the fiddle and the Northumbrian pipes|url=http://pamelahickmansmusicinterviews.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/kathryn-tickell-talks-about.html|website=Pamela Hickman's Music Interviews|access-date=15 September 2017|date=26 September 2015}} Her paternal grandfather played accordion, fiddle, and organ. Her father, Mike Tickell,{{cite news|last1=Javin|first1=Val|title=Music: Folk rooted in Northumbria|url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/music-folk-rooted-in-northumbria-4942721|access-date=23 March 2017|work=Huddersfield Daily Examiner|date=7 September 2012}} sings and her mother played the concertina. Her first instrument was piano when she was six.{{cite book|last1=Stambler|first1=Irwin|last2=Stambler|first2=Lyndon|title=Folk and blues : the encyclopedia|date=2001|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=0-312-20057-9|page=615|edition=1.}} A year later, she picked up a set of Northumbrian smallpipes brought home by her father, who intended them for someone else. Frustrated by fiddle and piano, she learned that the pipes rewarded her effort.{{cite web|last1=Tilden|first1=Imogen|title=Kathryn Tickell: 'This is so much more to me than just a band'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/02/kathryn-tickell-interview|website=The Guardian|access-date=11 December 2016|date=2 September 2010}} She was inspired by older musicians such as Willy Taylor, Will Atkinson, Joe Hutton, and Billy Pigg.{{cite web|title=Kathryn Tickell|url=http://www.kathryntickell.com/biography|website=Kathryntickell.com|access-date=11 December 2016}}
=Performing and recording=
At thirteen, she had gained a reputation from performing in festivals and winning pipe contests.{{cite web |last1=Nickson |first1=Chris |title=Artist Biography: Kathryn Tickell |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kathryn-tickell-mn0000307357/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=2020-11-28}} When she was seventeen, she released her first album, On Kielder Side (Saydisc, 1984), which she recorded at her parents' house. During the same year, she was named Official Piper to the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, an office that had been vacant for 13 years, since George Atkinson's appointment for a single year in 1971.Newcastle Evening Chronicle - Tuesday 14 September 1971 She formed the Kathryn Tickell Band, with Karen Tweed on accordion, bass, and Ian Carr on guitar, and released the band's first album in 1991 on Black Crow Records. Later, the band comprised Peter Tickell on fiddle, Julian Sutton on melodeon, and Joss Clapp on guitar. In 2001, the Kathryn Tickell Band was the first band to play traditional folk music at the Promenade Concerts in London.{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Michael |title=Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell calls the tune |url=http://www.ne4me.co.uk/celebrities-3/northumbrian-kathryn-tickell-family-61.html |website=NE4me (North East England) |access-date=12 December 2016 |date=16 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031110/http://www.ne4me.co.uk/celebrities-3/northumbrian-kathryn-tickell-family-61.html |archive-date=2017-12-01 |url-status=dead}}
She recorded with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, led by Simon Jeffes. She met Jeffes while she was in her teens, and he wrote the song "Organum" for her. Over a decade after Jeffes's death, she played with Penguin Cafe, run by his son, Arthur.
Tickell has also recorded with The Chieftains, The Boys of the Lough, Jon Lord, Jimmy Nail, Linda Thompson, Alan Parsons, and Andy Sheppard. She has performed live with Sting, who is also from Newcastle upon Tyne, and has recorded with him on his albums The Soul Cages (1991), Ten Summoner's Tales (1993), Mercury Falling (1996), Brand New Day, (1999), If on a Winter's Night (2009), and The Last Ship (2013).
Two ex-members of the North East England traditional music group the High Level Ranters have appeared on her albums: Tom Gilfellon on On Kielder Side and Alistair Anderson on Borderlands (1986). The latter album included to a tribute to the Wark football team. Several other pipers have appeared on her albums: Troy Donockley on Debatable Lands, Patrick Molard on The Gathering and Martyn Bennett on Borderlands. Debatable Lands included "Our Kate", a composition by Kathryn Tickell dedicated to Catherine Cookson.
In 2011, she took part in the Sunderland A.F.C. charity Foundation of Light event.{{cite web|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/dialogue/signposts/students/?itemno=13224 |title=Carols of Light charity fundraising event - Durham University |website=Dur.ac.uk |date=2011-11-09 |access-date=2020-05-19}}
She formed Kathryn Tickell and the Side, with Ruth Wall on Celtic harp, Louisa Tuck on cello, and Amy Thatcher on accordion. The group plays a mixture of traditional and classical music. They released an eponymous album in 2014.{{cite web |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Allan |title=Kathryn Tickell and the Side |type=live review |website=Northern Sky Magazine |url=http://www.northernskymag.com/reviews/live-reviews/kathryn-tickell-and-side |url-status=unfit |access-date=28 November 2020 |date=17 February 2015 |archive-date=2016-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220093601/http://www.northernskymag.com/reviews/live-reviews/kathryn-tickell-and-side}}{{cite web |last1=Zierke |first1=Reinhard |title=Kathryn Tickell & The Side |url=https://www.mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/kathryntickell.html#kathryntickellandtheside |website=Mainly Norfolk |access-date=28 November 2020}}
In 2018 Tickell established a new band, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, with whom she released the album Hollowbone in 2019. This project signals a different approach, with new material. There is a semi-imaginary incursion into the prehistory of Northumbrian music in the track "Nemesis" based on Roman-era texts and a melody by Emperor Hadrian’s court musician Mesomedes. There is a foray into a world of ancestral shamanism in "O-u-t Spells Out". The album was greeted with critical acclaim, with four-star reviews in The Observer and the Financial Times, as were the band's various national tours in its first two years of existence.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}
=Other projects=
In 1987, the early part of her career was chronicled in The Long Tradition, a TV documentary. Kathryn Tickell's Northumbria, another documentary, appeared in 2006. In 1997, Tickell founded the Young Musicians Fund of the Tyne and Wear Foundation to provide money to young people in northeastern England who wanted to learn music. She founded the Festival of the North East and from 2009 to 2013 was the artistic director of Folkworks.
She is also a regular presenter for BBC Radio 3's weekly world music programme Music Planet.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kathryntickell.com/biography|title=Biography|website=Kathryn Tickell}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tqyg|title=BBC Radio 3 - Music Planet, Lila Downs|website=BBC}}
Awards and honours
- Official Piper for the Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1984
- Musician of the Year, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, 2004, 2013
- The Queen's Medal for Music, 2009
- Best Traditional Album, Spiral Earth Awards, Northumbrian Voices
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) Civil Division, 2015{{cite news|title=Queen's birthday honours list 2015: OBE|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/12/queens-birthday-honours-list-2015-obe|agency=Press Association|website=The Guardian|date=12 June 2015|access-date=10 January 2020}}{{cite web|title=Kathryn's award in the queen's birthday honours|url=http://www.kathryntickell.com/news/2015-06-12/kathryns-award-in-the-queens-birthday-honours|website=Kathryn Tickell|date=12 June 2015|access-date=11 December 2016}}
- Honorary Degree, Open University, 2015{{cite web|last=Tackley|first=Catherine|title=Musicians receive Honorary Awards from the Open University|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/music/?p=1336|website=Open University|date=20 November 2015|access-date=10 January 2020}}
- Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for the County of Northumberland, 2015{{cite web|title=Carol and Kathryn are new Deputy Lieutenants|url=https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/News/2015/Mar/%E2%80%8BCarol-and-Kathryn-are-new-Deputy-Lieutenants.aspx|website=Northumberland.gov.uk|access-date=19 March 2019}}
- Honorary Degree (M.Mus), Durham University, 2017{{cite web|title=Leading musician and renowned inventor honoured in winter graduation ceremonies|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/undergraduate/life/experience/news/?itemno=30048|website=Durham University|date=9 January 2017|access-date=3 February 2017}}
- Honorary Degree (D.Mus), Newcastle University, 2019{{cite web|title=Honorary degrees celebrate excellence|url=https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2019/07/honorarydegrees2019/|website=Newcastle University|date=17 July 2019|access-date=10 January 2020}}
Discography
Kathryn Tickell
- On Kielder Side (Saydisc, 1984)
- Borderlands (Black Crow, 1987)
- Common Ground (Black Crow, 1988)
- The Gathering (Park, 1997)
- Debateable Lands (Park, 2000)
- Strange But True (2006)
- Northumbrian Voices (Park, 2012){{cite web|last1=Gallacher|first1=Alex|title=Interview: Kathryn Tickell - Northumbrian Voices|url=http://www.folkradio.co.uk/2012/09/interview-kathryn-tickell-northumbrian-voices/|website=Folk Radio UK|access-date=11 December 2016|date=18 September 2012}}
Kathryn Tickell & Corrina Hewat
- The Sky Didn't Fall (Park, 2006)
Kathryn Tickell & Ensemble Mystical
- Ensemble Mystical (Park, 2001)
Kathryn Tickell & Friends
- The Northumberland Collection (Park, 1998)
- Water of Tyne (Resilient, 2016){{cite web|title=Kathryn Tickell {{!}} Album Discography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kathryn-tickell-mn0000307357/discography|website=AllMusic|access-date=11 December 2016}}
Kathryn Tickell & Peter Tickell
- What We Do (Resilient, 2008)
Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening
- Hollowbone (Resilient, 2019)
- Cloud Horizons (Resilient, 2023)
Kathryn Tickell & the Side
- Kathryn Tickell & The Side (Resilient, 2014)
The Kathryn Tickell Band
- The Kathryn Tickell Band (Black Crow, 1991)
- Signs (Black Crow, 1993)
- Air Dancing (Park, 2004)
- Instrumental (Park, 2007)
With Sting
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- 1991 The Soul Cages
- 1993 Ten Summoner's Tales
- 1996 Mercury Falling
- 1999 Brand New Day
- 2009 If on a Winter's Night
- 2013 The Last Ship
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With others
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- 1987 Wide Blue Yonder, Oysterband
- 1991 The Bells of Dublin, The Chieftains
- 1993 Union Café, Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- 1993 You Hold the Key, Beth Nielsen Chapman
- 1995 The Shouting End of Life, Oysterband
- 2000 Stamping Ground, Rod Clements
- 2001 "Music for a New Crossing" , Andy Sheppard & Kathryn Tickell
- 2002 Fashionably Late, Linda Thompson
- 2003 25th Hour, Terence Blanchard
- 2003 Echo of Hooves, June Tabor
- 2006 Reunion, Daniel Lapp
- 2008 Durham Concerto, Jon Lord
- 2011 A Matter of Life, Penguin Cafe
- 2012 California 37, Train
- 2012 Seventeen Summers, Skinny Lister
- 2013 Wintersmith, Steeleye Span
- 2016 River Silver, Michel Benita{{cite web|title=Kathryn Tickell {{!}} Credits|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kathryn-tickell-mn0000307357/credits|website=AllMusic|access-date=13 December 2016}}
- 2019 Djesse Vol. 2, Jacob Collier
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References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.kathryntickell.com}}
{{Penguin Cafe Orchestra}}
{{Queen's Medal for Music}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickell, Kathryn}}
Category:Players of Northumbrian smallpipes
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Northumberland
Category:People educated at Gosforth Academy
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Musicians from Northumberland
Category:Musicians from Walsall