Early years Steeleye Span began in late 1969, when London-born bass player
Ashley Hutchings left
Fairport Convention, the band he had co-founded in 1967. Fairport had been involved in a road accident in 1969 in which the drummer,
Martin Lamble, and guitarist
Richard Thompson's girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn, were killed and other band members injured. The survivors convalesced in a rented house near
Winchester in Hampshire and worked on the album
Liege & Lief. Despite the success of that album, Hutchings and the band's vocalist
Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention. In part, Hutchings departed because he wanted to pursue a different, more traditional, direction than the other members of Fairport did at that time. Fairport's co-founder, guitarist
Simon Nicol, stated: "Whatever the upfront reasons about musical differences and wanting to concentrate on traditional material, I think the accident was the underlying reason why Ashley felt he couldn't continue with us." Hutchings's new band was formed after he met established duo
Tim Hart and
Maddy Prior on the London folk club scene, and the initial line-up was completed by husband-and-wife team
Terry Woods (formerly of
Sweeney's Men, later of
The Pogues) and
Gay Woods. The name Steeleye Span comes from a character in the traditional song "Horkstow Grange" and recorded two albums –
Please to See the King and
Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again (both 1971). Martin Carthy and Ashley Hutchings were also involved in the selection and arrangement of some songs released on this album, and Hutchings wrote the sleeve notes. Furthermore, Martin Carthy and Peter Knight performed on four songs released on
Roy Bailey's eponymous debut album in 1971.
A new direction Shortly after the release of their third album, the band brought in manager
Jo Lustig, who brought a more commercial sound to their recordings. At that time, traditionalists Carthy and Hutchings left the band to pursue purely folk projects. Their replacements were electric guitarist
Bob Johnson and bass player
Rick Kemp, who brought strong rock and blues influences to the sound. Their sixth album (and sixth member Pegrum's first with the band) was entitled
Now We Are Six. Produced by Jethro Tull's
Ian Anderson, Contemporary press reports indicated that it took some time for the crowd to even realise what was happening. Thanks to their connection with Mike Batt, band members appeared in Womble costumes on
Top of the Pops, performing the Wombles hit "Superwomble".
Late 1970s and early 1980s While they never regained the commercial success of
All Around My Hat, Steeleye remained popular among British folk rock fans and generally respected within the music industry. It has been widely reported that Peter Knight and Bob Johnson left the band to work on another project together, ''
The King of Elfland's Daughter''. The actual situation was more complex. Chrysalis Records agreed to allow Knight and Johnson to work on "King" only as a way to persuade the duo to continue working with Steeleye. Since the record company had no interest in "King" for its own sake, it made no effort to market the album. Chrysalis' ploy failed and Knight and Johnson quit. Their departure left a significant hole in the band. For the 1977 album,
Storm Force Ten, early member Martin Carthy rejoined on guitar. and also had children together. The result was that the band's output dropped sharply, producing only three albums over the space of ten years (including a concert album), although the band continued touring. After a quiet spell, the group's 12th studio album (and first without Tim Hart)
Back in Line was released on the Flutterby label in 1986. Steeleye Span continued to perform the song live and included a different version on their 1986 release
Back in Line, which some claim puts greater stress on the line that threatens death against blacklegs . In 1989, two long-term members departed. One was bassist Rick Kemp, who needed to recover from a serious shoulder injury, exacerbated by playing bass on stage. His eventual replacement (after two tours, each with a different bassist) was
Tim Harries, who was brought in less than two weeks before the band was scheduled to start a tour. A friend of Pegrum's, Harries was a self-taught rock bassist, as well as a classically trained pianist and double bassist. With Harries on board, Steeleye released
Tempted and Tried (1989), an album that formed the basis for their live set for many years to come. Not long after recording
Tempted, drummer Nigel Pegrum left the group to emigrate to Australia for personal relationship reasons. He was replaced by eccentric drummer
Liam Genockey (most recently of rock band
Gillan), easily identified by his long, plaited beard. He and Knight were simultaneously members of "Moiré Music", a free-jazz band with a classical flavour, led by Trevor Watts. Unlike Pegrum, who employed a traditional rock drumming style, Genockey favoured a more varied drumming style, influenced by both Irish and African drumming, in which he hit, brushed, and rubbed the various surfaces of his drums and cymbals, creating a more varied range of sounds. Consequently, when the band embarked on their 20th Anniversary Tour, they did so with a totally new rhythm section. Both Harries and Genockey were interested in experimenting with the band's sound, and they helped re-energise the other members' interest in Steeleye. The band began reworking some of their earlier material, seeking new approaches to traditional favourites. For example, Johnson experimented with an arrangement of "Tam Lin", that involved a heavy Bulgarian influence, inspired by Eastern European versions of the Tam Lin legend. In 1992 the band released ''
Tonight's the Night...Live'', which demonstrates some of this new energy and direction. The band continued to tour the UK every year, and frequently toured overseas as well.
Maddy 'leaves the bus' In 1995, almost all the past and present members of the band reunited for a concert to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the band (which was later released as
The Journey). The only former members not present were founding members Terry Woods, Mark Williamson, and Chris Staines. A by-product of this gig was founding vocalist Gay Woods rejoining the band full-time, partly because Prior was experiencing vocal problems and, for a while, Steeleye toured with two female singers and released the album
Time in 1996, their first new studio album in seven years. Woods received considerable criticism from fans, many of whom did not realise that she was one of the founding members and who compared her singing style unfavourably to Prior's. There was also disagreement among the band about what material to perform; Woods advocated performing old favourites such as "All Around My Hat" and "Alison Gross", while Johnson favoured a set that emphasised their newer material. Liam Genockey had also left the band in 1997 and, on these albums, the drum kit was manned by
Dave Mattacks, who was not an official member of the band.
Breakup and comeback Reported difficulties among band members saw a split during the recording of
Bedlam Born. Woods reportedly was uncomfortable with the financial arrangements of the band, health problems forced Johnson into retirement, and drummer Dave Mattacks' period as an unofficial member came to an end. Rick Kemp resumed playing with the band as a guest replacing Bob Johnson for the Bedlam Born tour, with Harries switching to lead guitar. Woods then left after this tour. For a while the band consisted of just Peter Knight and Tim Harries, plus various guest musicians, as they fulfilled live commitments. This was an uncertain time for the future of the band, and when Harries announced he was not keen to continue his role, even the willingness of Kemp to return to the line-up full-time was not enough to prevent an 18-month hiatus while Peter Knight and the band's manager, John Dagnell, considered whether it was worth continuing. In 2002, Steeleye Span reformed with a "classic" line-up (including Prior), bringing an end to the uncertainty of the previous couple of years. Knight hosted a poll on his website, asking fans which Steeleye songs they most wanted to see the band rerecord. Armed with the results, Knight persuaded Prior and Genockey to rejoin, coaxed Johnson out of a health-induced retirement and, along with Kemp and Knight, they released
Present—The Very Best of Steeleye Span (2002), a 2-disc set of new recordings of the songs. Bob Johnson's health issues prevented him from playing live, shortly before the 2002 comeback tour, and he was replaced at the eleventh hour on guitar by
Ken Nicol, formerly of the
Albion Band. Nicol had been talking with Rick Kemp about forming a band, when Kemp invited him to play for the tour and this was to herald a significant return to form for the band.
Ken Nicol years A revitalised lineup consisting of Prior, Kemp, Knight, Genockey and newcomer Ken Nicol released the album
They Called Her Babylon early in 2004, to considerable acclaim. The band extensively toured the UK, Europe and Australia, and their relatively prolific output continued with the release of the Christmas album
Winter later the same year, as the band ended a busy year of touring with a gala performance in London's
Palladium theatre. In 2005, Steeleye Span were awarded the Good Tradition Award at the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, while the 2005 book,
Electric Folk by Britta Sweers devotes much space to the band. With a new sense of purpose and a stable line-up, the band carried out a UK tour in April and May 2006, followed by dates in Europe and an appearance at the 2006
Cropredy Festival, where they were the headline act on the opening night. The set started with "Bonny Black Hare" and finished with "
All Around My Hat", with backing vocals from the Cropredy Crowd. The tour was supported by a live album and DVD of their 2004 tour. In November 2006, Steeleye released their studio album
Bloody Men. Their Autumn/Winter tour started on 24 November 2006 in
Basingstoke and ran until just before Christmas. They headlined at their namesake festival, Spanfest 2007 at Kentwell Hall, Suffolk from 27 to 29 July 2007, and returned for Spanfest 2008. As Kentwell Hall declined to hold the festival again, it was held at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire. A UK tour took place between 17 April and 16 May 2008. For their 40th anniversary tour, in 2009,
Pete Zorn joined the line-up on bass, as Rick Kemp was unwell. Kemp and Zorn both toured with the band for the winter tour that year, with Zorn playing guitar, and Kemp announced that he would retire at the end of the tour – a decision he later reversed, as usual.
Live at a Distance, a live double CD and DVD set, was released in April 2009 by Park Records, and their new studio album entitled
Cogs, Wheels & Lovers was released on 26 October 2009. Several tracks from this album featured in the sets of the autumn tour. Founding member Tim Hart died on 24 December 2009, at his home in
La Gomera on the
Canary Islands, at the age of 61, after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
Now We Are Six Again / Wintersmith In June 2010, Ken Nicol announced that he was leaving Steeleye and the band reassembled for a Spring 2011 tour, with Julian Littman joining the line-up as guitarist, replacing Nicol. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn also continued to play with the band, making them a six-piece for the first time in many years. In 2011, they released
Now We Are Six again, a live double album based on their set at the time, which included full performances of all the songs on their 1974
Now we are Six album. In October 2013, the band released their 22nd studio album,
Wintersmith, containing original songs based on the writings of
Terry Pratchett. This was followed by a winter tour of the UK. This album marked a return to form and media attention as the album reached number 77 in the UK Albums Chart, had tracks played on BBC Radio 2 and led to various radio and TV interviews for Terry Pratchett and Maddy Prior as they promoted the album. Following Pratchett's death, in March 2015, the band made an appearance at the memorial service for him, in April 2016, at Barbican Centre, London.
Peter Knight leaves / Dodgy Bastards album Peter Knight left Steeleye Span at the end of 2013. He was replaced by Jessie May Smart. The band continued to tour regularly and recorded four new tracks for the 2014 'Deluxe' re-release of the
Wintersmith album. In the summer of 2015, they toured North America, with a reduced line up consisting of Prior, Littman, Smart, Genockey and, for the first time, Maddy's son, Alex Kemp, on bass, replacing his father, Rick. An autumn/winter tour of the UK followed with Rick Kemp back in the line-up, along with Andrew 'Spud' Sinclair, replacing Pete Zorn. In April 2016, Pete Zorn was diagnosed with advanced lung and brain cancer. He died on 19 April. Andrew Sinclair joined the band permanently in 2016 and the line up toured in October 2016 and announced the release of a new studio album,
Dodgy Bastards, in November. The album is a mixture of original compositions, traditional songs and original tunes put to traditional lyrics.
Present day / 50th anniversary After completing the 'Dodgy Bastards' tour, Rick Kemp retired and has been replaced by Roger Carey, on bass. For the November/December 2017 tour, the band was joined by multi-instrumentalist and ex-
Bellowhead member
Benji Kirkpatrick. Benji is son of former Steeleye Span member, John Kirkpatrick. The band undertook two "50th Anniversary" tours in 2019, in Spring and Winter. The band played the 'Avalon Stage' at the
Glastonbury Festival 2019, were a closing act at the
Cornbury Music Festival 2019 and even made their debut in Russia at a folk festival called Chasti Sveta (Части света, Parts of the World), in
Saint Petersburg. On 17 December, they appeared at the Barbican Theatre, in London, with special guests and previous band members Peter Knight, Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick. For the November/December 2021 tour, the first post-Covid tour, Benji Kirkpatrick was absent due to 'personal reasons' and with Jessie May Smart still on maternity leave, Violeta Vicci joined the band, on violin. This same line up toured in May and October 2022. Benji Kirkpatrick left the band officially in February 2022 due to other commitments and has not been replaced. Steeleye Span continued celebrating 50 years since the release of their classic Folk Rock albums by touring throughout November and December 2023, including a concert at the Cadogan Hall in London on 18 December 2023. 2024 was the 55th anniversary of the band and there were further tours in May and October, both supported by a new album
The Green Man Collection and featuring new violinist Athena Octavia. It contains six newly recorded tracks in addition to songs from their last two studio albums. It features a new version of 'Hard Times of Old England' with a guest appearance of
Francis Rossi from
Status Quo on guitar and vocals. In 2025, Steeleye Span toured twice in the UK and released the studio album
Conflict. In 2026, Steeleye Span with Maddy Prior can be heard with their song "Twa Corbies" over the closing credits of Amazon Prime's "Young Sherlock"; Season 1, Episode 2. ==Examples of collaborations==