Barbara Dickson was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. Her singing career started in folk clubs around her native Fife in the sixties, exposing her to a rich combination of traditional and contemporary music.
In the early seventies she sang at a Liverpool folk club run by a young student teacher called Willy Russell. He showed Barbara the first draft of what would later become the award-winning musical John, Paul, George, Ringo....and Bert and asked her to perform the music. The combination of fine writing, a superb cast of young unknowns, (including Antony Sher, Bernard Hill and Trevor Eve) and Barbara's idiosyncratic interpretation of Beatles songs made the show hugely successful.
During the seventies and eighties Barbara Dickson enjoyed huge success in both the pop field and also moved into acting and was featured in a number of high profile stage and television productions.
In the late nineties Barbara met with Troy Donockley and the pair made plans to work with each other. This collaboration first came to bear fruit on the album Full Circle and again more recently on the Time and Tide album.
Of this new album she writes:
“My ‘Winter’ album is a collection of seasonal songs, some of which were included in the BBC Scotland radio show ‘Joy to the World’ several years ago now. We’re supplementing those pieces with more ‘wintry’ music and it’s been a brilliant exercise for Troy and me. We can’t bear the thought of not recording together so this is to keep us going until he comes back from Nightwish. It’s been a labour of love for us both and I hope you’ll enjoy it when it comes out”.
