Virginia Astley

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Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter active during the 1980s and 1990s. Although more popular in the far east, most notably Japan, she remains a cult artist in her native England.

Life

From the start of her song-writing career in 1980 Virginia took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music.

Her family were from the Warrington area and lived in Grappenhall, where her elder sister Karen was born in 1947; Karen became the wife of Pete Townshend of The Who. They relocated to Stanmore in Middlesex because of Edwin Astley's work as a film and TV writer. In the early 1960s he was musical director at ITC Entertainment in Borehamwood, the company responsible for TV series such as The Saint and Danger Man.

In the 1970s Virginia's elder brother, Jon Astley, became a tape operator for Eric Clapton and worked his way up to his current activities as a remasterer and producer.

Virginia's first appearance in public was as a busker outside South Kensington tube station. In 1980 she auditioned for a new band from Clapham, the Victims of Pleasure. Virginia - playing keyboards - stayed with them for a short while playing in clubs and pubs around London.

Ravishing Beauties (band)

In 1981 Virginia formed the Ravishing Beauties with two friends Kate St. John and Nicola Holland, both of whom had solo careers in the 1990s at the time of Virginia's reemergence in Japan.They did not record as a band other than to appear on a couple of radio shows, including a John Peel Session on BBC Radio 1 in April 1982 ^[1].

The Ravishing Beauties first played at Club Zoo in Liverpool and followed this with a support tour with The Teardrop Explodes, Virginia wrote most of their songs - some had appeared on her first solo project. The band was short lived, with St. John first becoming a model and then eventually a member of The Dream Academy, while Holland did session work and joined Tears for Fears.

Solo work

One of the first people Astley recorded with was Richard Jobson. Together with John McGeoch and Josephine Wells they created a musical backdrop for Jobson's poetry. This was released as The Ballad of Etiquette in late 1981. Later, Astley went with Jobson to perform in Japan. She also worked on other people's projects,including a couple for Les Disques Du Crépuscule label, playing piano and arranging music for Richard Jobson and Anna Domino. She also had a track on From Brussels with Love in 1982. Sessions followed with Richard Jobson and Russell Webb for the final Skids album Joy, which featured Astley on flute and as a backing singer.

She signed with Why-Fi in mid-1981 and recorded an EP called A Bao A Qu, the title taken from that of a short story. This was produced by Jon Astley and Phil Chapman. Using a demo studio in Wapping called Elephant Studios, Astley recorded the song that was to land her in the indie top 10 (#8) in 1983: "Love's a Lonely Place to Be", a song of despair and anxiety in spite of its Christmas carol sound. The song would later form part of the 1986 LP Hope in a Darkened Heart.

The album From Gardens Where We Feel Secure was released in August 1983 and was recorded on Astley's own label Happy Valley and distributed by Rough Trade, who have since reissued it. The album made the top 5 of the indie chart (#4), but neither single nor album dented the so-called "proper charts".

Crépuscule's released an album that Astley had little control over. This was a mixture of tracks, some of which had been released previously, and was titled Promise Nothing. It was also released in Canada but again without Astley's authorisation.^{[citation needed]}

In 1983 Virginia established a more permanent lineup with string players Audrey Riley, Jocelyn Pook and Anne Stephenson, with guests such as drummer Brian Neville and composer Jeremy Peyton Jones.

In 1984, Astley played keyboards on tour with Prefab Sprout around the time of their first album, and she also did sessions for their Kitchenware Records labelmates Martin Stephenson and the Daintees.

In 1984 Virginia signed to Arista but left to join Elektra Records UK. Darkness Has Reached its End and Tender were both recorded at this time. When Elektra UK folded she went to WEA where she subsequently recorded Hope in A Darkened Heart with Ryuichi Sakamoto producing in 1986. The success of this album in Japan meant that Virginia was asked to sign to Nippon Columbia with who she recorded a further two albums, All Shall Be Well in 1992 and Had I The Heavens in 1996.

Since then, Astley has guested on CDs by both Hideaki Matsuoka and the Silent Poets. Rough Trade re-issued From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, with a new cover in 2003 and in 2006, she released her first album of new material in 10 years. Entitled The Words Between Our Words, this mini album features Astley reciting her own poetry to a backing of harp music. In 2007, she premiered a long poem "Ecliptic", with flute, harp and birdsong.

Influences

Once Virginia Astley emerged into the music mainstream, the music press published a number of articles about her. She named her influences as poetry and classical music and paid only lip service to rock. She was also interested in synthesisers as her father had introduced her to them. Though her music was original, one can hear strands of Debussy, Satie and Vaughan Williams in there. Benjamin Britten was another influence, especially his use of the War Poets.

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (October 2008)

External links

• Official Site