The Beauty of British Song: PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey debuted with the album Dry in 1992, which American rocker Kurt Cobain listed among his twenty favorite albums of all time.

PJ Harvey was actually both the name of a group and the singer, but the trio disbanded after two LPs, and PJ Harvey the singer became a solo artist beginning with the album To Bring You My Love.

Harvey became as controversial and eccentric as her edgy music, performing in costumes more befitting an American disco singer than a British alternative indie rocker.

More recent PJ Harvey albums include Stories From the City, Stories from The Sea, released in 2000. and White Chalk, issued in 2007.

The Beauty of British Song: Julia Fordham

Julia Fordham arrived in the boom of female singer-songwriters in the late eighties who were an alternative to, but not the antidote to, the mindless synth-pop of the time. Her first two albums, her self-titled debut and Porcelain, were records that everyone with an interest in good music had to own. Her best-known songs include "Happy Ever After," "Manhattan Skyline," and "Lock and Key."

Though she's had more chart success in her native Britain than in America, she has a loyal audience in both countries. She's now based in California.

Julia Fordham's more recent albums include Falling Forward (1994), East West (1997) and Concrete Love (2002).

She not only has good taste in music, she has good taste in cars! :-)

The Beauty of British Song: Judy Dyble

Judy Dyble is best known as the original female lead singer of Fairport Convention, a rock and roll band that revolutionized folk rock in Britain as much as the Byrds had done in America.

Dyble only appeared on the group's 1968 self-titled debut record. Among the tracks she sang lead on were two Joni Mitchell covers, "I Don't Know Where I Stand" and "Chelsea Morning." She had a peerless and clear voice comparable to that of Sandy Denny, who replaced her.

After leaving Fairport Convention, Dyble joined Giles, Giles and Fripp (which would later evolve into King Crimson) and, after that, she joined Trader Horn. She retired from music in 1973 but came out of retirement to perform and record three decades later.

Her more recent albums include 2004's Enchanted Garden and 2009's Talking With Strangers. She has occasionally participated in Fairport Convention reunions.

The Beauty of British Song: Corinne Drewery

Corinne Drewery is the stylish, sexy frontwoman of the pop group Swing Out Sister, which comprises herself and Andy Connell. (A third member, Martin Jackson, left years ago.) They were one of the few decent British groups to emerge in the eighties.

Swing Out Sister swung out and broke out in 1986 with their hit song "Breakout" from their LP It's Better To Travel and followed up with 1989's Kaleidoscope World, which featured the hit single "The Waiting Game." Drewery captivated fans with her flapper haircut and sassy vocal style.

In addition to being the group's lead singer, she also writes the lyrics for its songs.

The Beauty of British Song: Petula Clark

Brian Epstein, who managed Cilla Black as well as the Beatles, tried like heck to make her as big a star in America as she was in Britain, but her dislike of touring abroad kept her from achieving such fame. Petula Clark had much better luck in the United States, though.

Two of her big hits included "Downtown," a wonderful pop song, as well as a song that offered sound advice - "Don't Sleep In the Subway."

For such a conventional singer, Petula Clark caused a stir on American television when, during a number on her own TV special with black singer/activist/icon Harry Belafonte, she lightly grasped his arm. A white woman touching a black man? Sounds like no big deal today, but in America in the sixties, it was considered scandalous.

The Beauty of British Song: Cilla Black

Pop singer Cilla Black is as much an institution in Great Britain as Barbra Streisand or Carol Burnett is in the United States. She is, quite frankly, the mother country's most beloved female entertainer.

Black came out of Liverpool in the sixties and knew the Beatles, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote many songs that she recorded exclusively - "It's For You," "Step Inside Love," and one or two others the late Michael Jackson probably didn't realize he owned. She also recorded covers of Righteous Brothers and Burt Bacharach tunes.


She was also the star of her own BBC television series, "Cilla."

New Series: The Beauty of British Song!

This month I'll be focusing on pictures of beautiful British female popular singers, after giving them inexcusably short shrift in my two earlier "The Beauty of Song" editions.

Are we ready, then? Jolly good! Let's go!