Brenda Wootton

Brenda Wooton
Wootton on the cover of her posthumous 2010 album All of Me, recorded live in Paris in 1984
Background information
Born	20 February 1928 London, England
Origin	Newlyn, Cornwall, England
Died	11 March 1994(1994-03-11) (aged 65) Penzance, Cornwall
Genres	English folk
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1960s–1980s
Labels	Sentinel Records
Associated acts	Richard Gendall, Chris Newman, John Langford
Website	[1]

Brenda Wootton (née Ellery) (10 February 1928 – 11 March 1994) was a Cornish poet and folk singer and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far as Australia and Canada.

She was born in London, but grew up in the fishing village of Newlyn. She began her musical career as a young schoolgirl, singing in village halls throughout the remote communities of west Cornwall. Wootton became active on the folk scene in the early 60s, helping to keep the Cornish folk song tradition alive for many years. Her early albums were recorded on Cornwall's Sentinel label, often with John the Fish (John Langford), with whom she sang for six years. Wootton later sang with Robert Bartlett and with guitarists Pete Berryman, Mike Silver, Al Fenn, David Penhale and Chris Newman.

Many of her songs were composed by Richard Gendall. Her repertoire over the years covered folk, rock, blues, jazz and even hymns, but she is best remembered for her Cornish "standards" such as Lamorna, The White Rose, Camborne Hill, The Stratton Carol and the ballads Mordonnow, Tamar, Silver Net and Lyonesse.

She was equally at home when singing in Cornish, Breton or English and was as famous in Brittany, which she visited regularly, as she was in her native Cornwall. She opened her own folk club, the Pipers Folk Club, at St Buryan, Cornwall and appeared in the first ever Lorient Interceltic Festival in Brittany.