24 Facts About Anne Briggs

Anne Patricia Briggs was born on 29 September 1944 and is an English folk singer.

Anne Briggs's mother died of tuberculosis when she was young.

Jansch and Briggs had an instant rapport and were an influence on each other for several years.

At Nottingham, MacColl heard Anne Briggs singing "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" and "She Moves Through the Fair" and promptly invited her to perform on stage that night.

Anne Briggs became a full member of the tour and recorded the same two songs on an album recorded live in Edinburgh later that year.

Anne Briggs decided to leave home, just four weeks short of her eighteenth birthday.

Anne Briggs soon acquired the contacts she needed to pursue her own musical career.

Anne Briggs attended a folk song club in Nottingham between 1960 and 1962 run by Joy and Eric Foxley in their flat near the Nottingham Goose Fair site.

Anne Briggs visited the main British folk clubs which were then becoming well known such as the Troubadour and the Scots Hoose, as well as various Irish music venues.

Jansch and Anne Briggs had some resemblance to each other and were often mistaken for brother and sister.

Anne Briggs began her recording career by contributing two songs to a thematic album, The Iron Muse, released by Topic Records in 1963.

At about this time, Anne Briggs entered a relationship with a Scotsman known as "Gary the archer," who proved to be violently abusive.

Anne Briggs was rescued from this relationship by Hamish Henderson, who accidentally met her and invited her to join Louis Killen, Dave Swarbrick and Frankie Armstrong for a recording project.

Anne Briggs's time in Ireland introduced her to the solo sean-nos singing heard in the songs of Irish folk artists, and this was an influence on her later singing style, when blended with the elements of traditional English music which she had already taken up.

Anne Briggs joined them on tours and learned to play the bouzouki, at that time a rare instrument in Britain and Ireland.

Anne Briggs wrote "Living by the Water", which was to appear on her 1971 album, accompanying herself on the instrument.

Anne Briggs performed along with the folk-rock group COB at the Royal Festival Hall in 1971.

The BBC broadcast a film of the Watersons in 1966, "Travelling for a Living," in which Anne Briggs made a brief appearance.

Anne Briggs was pregnant at the time with her second child.

In 1993, Anne Briggs took part in a TV documentary about Bert Jansch, singing "Go Your Way" as a duet with Jansch for the show.

Anne Briggs appeared in the 2006 BBC 4 documentary "Folk Brittania".

One song, "Mosaic Patterns," which Anne Briggs herself has never recorded, was recorded by blues singer Dorris Henderson.

Sandy Denny wrote a song in tribute to Anne Briggs, called "The Pond and the Stream", on Fotheringay.

Charlotte Greig and the Scottish band James Yorkston and the Athletes have said Anne Briggs was an influence on them.