Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey at Bromyard Folk Festival, 2007

Roy Bailey MBE (born 20 October 1935, London), is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.

Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals... a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry."

In the 2000 Honours List, he received the MBE for services to folk music. On the 23rd August 2006, he returned the MBE in protest at the United Kingdom government's foreign policy with regard to Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. By doing so he joined the list of people who have declined a British honour.

In 2003, Bailey together with Tony Benn were awarded "Best Live Act" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for their programme Writing on the Wall. Tony Benn cites Roy Bailey as "the greatest socialist folk singer of his generation."

He performs a number of songs by the American singer-songwriter Si Kahn and is also renowned as a singer of children's songs, often using material written by his old partner Leon Rosselson.

Roy Bailey is an Emeritus Professor of Social Studies at Sheffield Hallam University and the patron of the Towersey Village Festival and the Shepley Spring Festival. He is also the father in law of singer Martin Simpson

External links

• The Roy Bailey Homepage Brief biography, newsletter, reviews, discography, and concert diary.
• exclusive and indepth interview with Roy Bailey An exclusive and indepth interview with Roy Bailey from August 2006
• Songs of Life from a Dying British Empire (1981) Album Details at Smithsonian Folkways

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