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Ashley Hutchings Biography

Best known as founder of Fairport Convention, Ashley Hutchings' work and musical influences predate that band by many years. After leaving Fairport in 1970, Ashley Hutchings went on to to found and lead many other notable groups. For four decades, he has brought together musicians to form new and exciting ensembles and been the catalyst for some great music: in short, he is to English folk what John Mayall is to British blues.

Ashley Hutchings was born on 26 January 1945 in Middlesex but moved to Muswell Hill while still a child. His father, Leonard, was a pianist with his own dance band - Leonard Hutchings and His Embassy Five. Ashley grew up passionately interested in popular music, in particular skiffle, trad jazz and early rock 'n' roll.

By the mid-1960s, Ashley Hutchings was playing bass and had developed an abiding love for folk music. During this period, he formed several groups in north London including Tim Turner's Narration, Dr K's Blues Band and The Ethnic Shuffle Orchestra. With Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson, he formed a new group, Fairport Convention, in the spring of 1967.

At first, Fairport Convention performed a mix of original songs and American 'west coast' singer/songwriter material. However, under Hutchings' enthusiastic guidance, the band's fourth LP, Liege and Lief, was drawn largely from traditional English folk music and became the album widely credited with 'inventing' English folk-rock.

Ashley Hutchings left Fairport after the release of Liege & Lief to found Steeleye Span. The original band (including its various early line-up changes) was devoted to traditional music adapted to electric instruments.

During his time with Steeleye, Ashley Hutchings began a long association with the theatre and theatrical presentations that has continued throughout his career. This work has including productions at the National Theatre, the Riverside Centre and on stages throughout Britain.

Ashley Hutchings left Steeleye after the group's third album Below the Salt. In late 1971, he formed the Albion Country Band to back his then-wife, Shirley Collins. The initial line-up included Fairport members Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson. In early 1974, the Albion Country Band evolved into the Etchingham Steam Band, with Hutchings on bass and Shirley Collins on vocals. The group's next incarnation was the Albion Dance Band, with Hutchings and Nicol at the core. In 1978, this became the Albion Band with a line-up that included Ric Sanders on violin. The group lasted over twenty years through many line-up changes. Concurrently, various incarnations of the Morris On bands set English morris dance music to electric instruments.

Ashley Hutchings also wrote and performed a one-man show about song collector Cecil Sharp and recorded the album An Hour with Cecil Sharp. He has also recorded other solo projects and appeared on numerous albums by other artists including Ian Matthews, Shirley Collins, Royston and Heather Wood, Ray Fisher, Richard Thompson, Mike and Lal Waterson, Martin Carthy, the Kipper Family, and Polly Bolton.

Ashley Hutchings' most recent project is Rainbow Chasers. The band was formed in mid-2004 and features Ashley (bass guitar and vocals), Ruth Angell (vocals, violin, acoustic guitar), Jo Hamilton (vocals, viola, accoustic guitar) and Mark Hutchinson (vocals, accoustic guitar). The band has released two albums (Some Colours Fly and Fortune Never Sleeps) featuring self-penned material, instrumental virtuosity, and shared harmony and lead vocals.