Born: March 26, 1977, Yelverton, Dartmoor, Devon, Engla
Active: 2000s
Genres: Rock
Instrument: Violin
Biography
When the band Equation stumbled to semi-retirement in 2001, Seth Lakeman appeared to be the bandmember least equipped to find solo success. His brothers Sam and Sean teamed up in successful duos with their partners and fellow bandmembers Cara Dillon and Kathryn Roberts, but few imagined the band's frenzied fiddle player/guitarist would swiftly transform himself into not only one of the hottest talents on the British folk scene, but achieve fame and success well beyond the genre's parameters. Post-Equation, he played support fiddle behind his sister-in-law Cara Dillon, but back home in the beautiful, dramatic surroundings of Dartmoor in the southwest of England, he was inspired to write songs about the myriad legends and folklore endemic to the mystical countryside in which he was raised. His sole motivation for releasing his first solo album, The Punch Bowl (recorded in brother Sean's kitchen with other members of Equation and released on his own iScream label in 2002), was to stir up enough interest to get a few folk club gigs. The album sank without a trace. He didn't have the credibility or a striking enough voice to be taken seriously performing traditional material, and his own songs seemed scarcely original enough to garner attention beyond Equation followers.
Lakeman had little expectation that his second effort, 2004's Kitty Jay, would fare any better. Again recorded on a shoestring budget (£300!) in his brother's kitchen, it delved further into Devon's rich legacy of legends and was officially launched with a surreal gig in front of a captive audience at the bleak, intimidating Dartmoor Prison close to his home. But unlike its predecessor, Kitty Jay captured people's imaginations in unexpected ways. The title track told the harrowing story of a maid who committed suicide when ostracized by the local community after being impregnated by the squire's son, and inspired a trail of visitors to her roadside grave. Lakeman, meanwhile, found himself the shock inclusion on the short list of the 2005 Mercury Music Prize alongside rock luminaries Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Magic Numbers, Hard-Fi, KT Tunstall, and eventual winners Antony and the Johnsons. Lakeman's passionate performance of "Kitty Jay" at the finals and his genial, homespun attitude toward the press interest accompanying it helped win a whole new audience, not merely for him, but the folk genre he was representing.
Suddenly Lakeman was the pinup boy of "nu folk," and although his next album, Freedom Fields, had already been recorded in a similarly modest manner to the previous two, EMI stepped forward in 2006 to sign him to its Relentless imprint and remix and reissue the album. With the full might of a major company behind him, Lakeman was projected into a previously alien world of singles, remixes, videos, daytime TV and radio promotion, and massive tours. He took it all in his stride and relished the chance to create a bigger sound, establishing a band, including brother Sean on guitar and Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne from the Uiscedwr trio playing bodhran.
Achieving mainstream recognition and a couple of minor U.K. hit singles (with "The White Hare" and "Lady of the Sea"), Lakeman's spectacular rise was greeted with skepticism by a folk world programmed to be suspicious of crossover success. Yet while his style was hardly authentic -- a novel hybrid of traditional song, frothy pop, and classically flavored fiddle playing -- he built an entirely new, young fan base for the music, something many had tried and failed to do before him. He was rewarded with Album of the Year (for Freedom Fields) and Singer of the Year honors at the 2007 BBC Folk Awards, though there was an outcry when the apparently self-written "The White Hare" was nominated as traditional track of the year. Few ever successfully manage to straddle the disparate worlds of pop and folk, but with his infectious energy, original style, and natural charisma, Seth Lakeman kept his balance. ~ Colin Irwin, All Music Guide
Seth Lakeman began playing music with his parents and two brothers Sean and Sam at an early age.
As The Lakeman Brothers, the three brothers released their critically acclaimed debut album Three Piece Suite in 1994. Later that same year they were invited by two Yorkshire based singers Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves Equation.[1] The group swiftly garnered much praise and hype and signed a record deal with Time Warner in 1995. After three full albums ('Return to me' in 1996, 'Hazy Daze' in 1998, 'The Lucky Few' in 2000), and touring around the UK, Europe and the USA, Lakeman left Equation in 2001. He joined his brother Sam and Sam's wife Cara Dillon and appeared on Dillon's acclaimed eponymous debut album, which featured Seth on fiddle, guitar and vocals.[2] The album won two awards at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.[3]
In 2002 Lakeman released his first solo album, The Punch Bowl, which received wide critical acclaim including a review in fRoots magazine which said: "The songs don't just glide smoothly by.....they get their claws into you".
Kitty Jay, Lakeman's second solo album was released in 2004. The title track of the album tells the story of Jay's Grave, a well known location on Dartmoor. The album was recorded for a cost of less than £300.[4] That same year he collaborated with Devon singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and young local singer Jenna Witts on the album Western Approaches.
A sell-out UK tour in Autumn 2005 followed his Mercury Music Prize nomination, after which Lakeman and his band (regularly brother Sean (guitar), Ben Nichols (bass), Andy Tween(drums), toured extensively with folk-rock giants The Levellers, who took to closing their set with a "fiddle off" between Lakeman and Levellers' fiddler Jon Sevink. Other support tours with Billy Bragg and Jools Holland brought Lakeman's music to a wider audience.
In March 2006 Lakeman began a UK tour in order to promote his new album Freedom Fields which was released on iScream. He then changed to a major record company called Relentless and released his new single Lady of the Sea in early August 2006.
On 18 April 2008, Lakeman appeared on stage with Jethro Tull on their 40th anniversary tour at Colston Hall in Bristol before the start of his own UK tour later that month and going on to tour the festival circuit throughout the summer. His fourth album, Poor Man's Heaven was released on 30 June 2008. It includes Solomon Browne, a tribute to the courage of the men who lost their lives in the Penlee lifeboat disaster.[5]
The festival tour continued in 2009 (with new drummer Simon Lea); notably with an appearance at the Bath Fringe festival on June 3, playing at the newly renovated Komedia venue to a capacity crowd who enjoyed renditions from Poor Man's Heaven and other albums as well as a wealth of new material. On 29 June they played the Glastonbury Festival's Avalon stage
In August 2009 Lakeman performed at Cambridge Folk Festival for the second year running and once more at 'Fairport's Cropredy Festival', Fairport Convention's annual folk festival in Oxfordshire, headlining on the Friday night. The band also headlined at The Levellers' Beautiful Days festival on Friday 21 August and at the V Festival in Weston Park the following day. The band, now augmented by the presence of Benji Kirkpatrick, performed on the Shrewsbury Folk Festival main stage on 29 August and then at Solfest on Sunday 30 August.
On September 13 2009, Lakeman performed at the Harvest At Jimmy's Food & Music Festival at Jimmy's Farm, Suffolk.
Lakeman has also been a regular performer at the small annual Parklife Music festival in the Town of Tavistock near to his home village of Buckland Monarchorum
UK chart position (2006-08-07) 52. Released on CD single and 7" vinyl.
The White Hare
Single
2006-10-21
UK chart position (2006-10-30) 47. Released as a two part CD single and limited edition white vinyl 7".
King & Country
Single
2007-02-05
Released only as a 7" vinyl single.
Poor Man's Heaven
EP
2007-10-22
Four-track EP (Poor Man's Heaven; Race to be King; How Much (Live); Lillywhite Girl) released on CD single and double 7" vinyl.
Poor Man's Heaven Live EP
EP (Download)
2008-04-22
Free EP release as a download from the official website [2], featuring live versions of five tracks (Poor Man's Heaven; Lady Of The Sea; Haunt You; Blood Red Sky; and Bold Knight) recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire in October 2007.
