In 1975, after spending 5 years as a floor singer around the many folk clubs in the North East of England as well as being a resident singer at the famous “Davylamp” Folk Club in Washington, BOB FOX met up with fellow North Easterner TOM McCONVILLE and his career as a professional folk singer/musician began.
In the duo with TOM he toured the vibrant folk club scene of mid 70’s Britain playing a mixture of Irish & Scottish dance music and singing mainly traditional songs primarily from their native North East, TOM on fiddle and BOB on guitar and piano.
BOB was vaunted as one of the best new singers on the scene and when the duo with TOM dissolved after 2 very successful years BOB formed a highly acclaimed partnership with ex-Hedgehog Pie man STU LUCKLEY.
BOB FOX & STU LUCKLEY amazed the folk clubs, festivals, reviewers and music press alike with their unique and innovative approach to arranging folk songs old and new, their first album
“NOWT SO GOOD’LL PASS” was voted FOLK ALBUM OF THE YEAR by Melody Maker on release in 1978 and remains a classic album.
BOB & STU were in great demand and played almost every folk club & festival in the UK and were support artists on major British tours for both RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON and RALPH McTELL. The duo also toured Germany, Holland, Australia and New Zealand and released a second album “WISH WE NEVER HAD PARTED” in 1982 before breaking up to pursue individual projects.
Since that time BOB has worked on developing his SOLO career and has also created a songs and slide show “HOW ARE YOU OFF FOR COALS” with BENNY GRAHAM depicting and celebrating the rich and varied culture of the coal mining communities of Durham & Northumberland.
In 1996 BOB & BENNY recorded the mining songs from the show and a few extras on a CD with Fellside Recordings of Cumbria “HOW ARE YOU OFF FOR COALS?” – FECD111 and the following year re-recorded a selection of 14 songs from his previous albums with STU on the CD
“BOX OF GOLD” – FECD 124. These two CDs come highly recommended by reviewers who once again place BOB at the top of the singer’s tree!
“FOX always was one of the scenes superior singers and his voice is as confident and
ebullient as it ever was!” Colin Irwin - FOLK ROOTS
"
In the year 2000 BOB celebrated 25 years of singing folk songs professionally and was invited to appear as “special guest” on the FAIRPORT CONVENTION “Wood and the Wire” UK tour in February. His first ever solo CD “DREAMS NEVER LEAVE YOU” - WRCD 035 was subsequently recorded at DAVE PEGG’S Woodworm Studio with various members of FAIRPORT playing on it.
The CD delighted both the folk press and BOB’s growing legion of fans, he also performed an impressive set at the CROPREDY FESTIVAL in August 2000.
In May/June 2001 BOB had a great reception on his first tour of US/Canada and in Sept/Oct Bob made the same impression on audiences in Australia and New Zealand.
Bob completed a Round the World tour in Sept/Oct/Nov 2002 and released a brand new CD “DARK TO THE SKY” recorded in the North East with new band THE HUSH.
The album has received rave reviews with ”Here’s the tender coming” being nominated Best Traditional Track and Bob nominated Best Folk Singer in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2003.
Bob started 2003 with a busy schedule which included extensive tours in the UK, a third US tour, a return to Australia to perform at the National Festival in Canberra and Fairbridge Festival in W.A. and continued with appearances at some of the most prestigious Folk Festivals in England throughout the Spring/Summer. He also signed a 3 CD deal with TOPIC RECORDS, the first one entitled “BORROWED MOMENTS” released on 3rd Sept received ecstatic reviews!
Bob was nominated Best Folk Singer once again in the 2004 Folk Awards and his version of the Chris Leslie song My Love is in America, recorded on Borrowed Moments, gained a nomination for Best Original Song.
Throughout 2005 Bob toured UK, USA, Australia and The Netherlands as well as appearing at many UK Folk Festivals in celebration of 30 years “on the road”.
Early in 2006 Bob was invited to join an elite group of folk singers, writers and musicians to record six new Radio Ballads commissioned by the BBC and produced and recorded by John Tams and John Leonard. Bob can be heard on all but the first of these and the series of six received great critical acclaim. His working relationship with John Tams was so successful that when Bob recorded his second Topic CD “THE BLAST” he asked John to produce it. Together they worked on the material and format of the album, mostly traditional songs with Bob’s superb voice accompanied only by his equally wonderful guitar playing.
"At last, the record we've been waiting for from Bob, it's the sound we hear in live performance, that astonishing guitar technique coupled with one of England's finest voices." - Ralph McTell
Apart from the usual grueling round of solo touring Bob teamed up with old mate Billy Mitchell ex-Lindisfarne front man for a very special duo tour in the Autumn of 2006 which resulted in a great live CD being produced called
“5 Star B & B.”
In 2007 Bob toured extensively in UK, was heavily involved in a “live” performance of the Radio Ballads at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival and finished the year with a second tour with Billy Mitchell.
For the first 3 months of 2008 Bob did his longest ever tour “down under” performing at festivals and concerts in Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand. On his return he embarked on an ambitious project with former duo partner Stu Luckley to re-record both of their original vinyl albums for a 2 CD set called “THIRTY YEARS ON” which they produced for their equally ambitious re-union tour that took place in the Autumn and taking in many of the places that they played in the 70s finishing at the highly prestigious Sage Concert Hall on the banks of the Tyne in Gateshead.
The performances they produced on the tour and the quality of the CD brought them a nomination in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2009 as “Best Duo”.
There is another Bob Fox & Billy Mitchell tour in the Autumn of 2009 and Bob will tour solo for the rest of the year.
Bob Fox continues to be one of the most popular and best loved performers on the world folk stage and after more than three decades remains at the very top of his game.
For info visit Bob’s website www.bobfoxmusic.com or the agency website www.iconicmusic.com
“BOB FOX, surely one of the great voices of the whole of the Folk Revival…”
John Muirhead – LIVING TRADITION
“…possibly the most complete male artist in English folk, his quietly impressive “Dreams Never Leave You” is my album of 2000.” Colin Randall – THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
CONTACT BOB FOX by tel/fax 0191 388 6505 (24hr) mobile 07885 213691
E mail bob@bobfoxmusic.com website www.bobfoxmusic.com