Born in
Manchester, she began performing on the folk-club circuit during the late 1960s whilst working as a teacher in
Manchester. During the 1970s and 1980s she was a singer with blues band Loose Lips and a member of the Manchester quartet Well Knit Frames, She sang on several of
Suns of Arqa's early LPs (
Musical Revue,
Wadada Magic,
India?) which were released between 1983 and 1984. Watson made a demo tape with McGroarty which found its way to
Keith Hopwood at Pluto Music. Hopwood signed Watson and introduced her to music publisher and manager
Deke Arlon. Soon afterwards, Watson signed with
EMI Records, releasing her debut album
Blue Slipper in 1987. Produced by
Glyn Johns, the record featured contributions from various notable musicians including
Bill Payne,
Richie Hayward,
Paul Barrere,
George Hawkins,
Michael Landau,
Steve Lukather and
Bernie Leadon Whilst signed to
EMI, Watson toured supporting
Joe Cocker and
Black. Watson signed to
RCA for 1992's
Companion Gal, which was recorded at the
Rockfield Studios in Wales.
Andy Fairweather-Low once again lent his talents, as did
Brinsley Schwarz. which toured the United States, Canada and Europe (and released an album of songs from the show in 1993). Watson also formed an all-female group called
Daphne's Flight, (with
Christine Collister,
Melanie Harrold,
Julie Matthews and
Chris While), releasing an eponymous album in 1995. In the ensuing decade, Watson released several albums which were mostly acoustic folk music, and toured the UK regularly. She continued to work with other artists, notably
Emmylou Harris and
Linda Ronstadt on their 1999 album
Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions. Watson also produced
Christine Collister's 1996 album
Blue Aconite and appeared on releases by Ashley Hutchings. In December 2006, Watson completed another tour of smaller venues in the UK, including shows with David Hughes and
Christine Collister. From March to May 2007, she toured as singer with Snake Davis's band Burden of Paradise before returning to solo shows in July of that year. In 2008, she released the album
Headrest. Two years later she released an EP,
Fiver with five original songs. ==Solo discography==