32 Facts About Dave Swarbrick

David Cyril Eric Swarbrick was an English traditional folk musician and songwriter and one of the greatest fiddlers in the world.

Dave Swarbrick was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second British folk revival, contributing to some of the most important groups and projects of the 1960s, and he became a much sought-after session musician, which led him throughout his career to work with many of the major figures in folk and folk rock music.

Dave Swarbrick played in a series of smaller, acoustic units and engaged in solo projects.

Dave Swarbrick maintained a massive output of recordings and a significant profile and made a major contribution to the interpretation of traditional British music.

Dave Swarbrick was born on 5 April 1941 in Stoneleigh, Surrey.

Dave Swarbrick's family moved to Linton, near Grassington, North Yorkshire, where he learned to play the violin.

Dave Swarbrick joined the Ian Campbell Folk Group in 1960 and embarked on his recording career, playing on one single, three EPs and seven albums with the group over the next few years.

In 1967, Dave Swarbrick released his first solo album Rags, Reels and Airs, with guests Martin Carthy and Diz Disley, which has since become a benchmark for generations of folk fiddlers.

Fairport had decided to play a traditional song "A Sailor's Life", which Dave Swarbrick had previously recorded with Carthy in 1969, and he was asked to contribute fiddle to the session.

Subsequently, Dave Swarbrick was asked to join the group and was the first fiddler on the folk scene to electrify the violin.

However, Dave Swarbrick was already beginning to suffer the hearing problems that would dog the rest of his career.

Dave Swarbrick played on some of the most significant folk albums of the era, including work by John Renbourn, Al Stewart and Peter Bellamy.

When Simon Nicol quit the band in 1971, Dave Swarbrick was the longest-standing member and responsible for keeping the group afloat through a bewildering series of line-up changes and problematic projects.

The next album Rosie is chiefly notable for the title track, written by Dave Swarbrick, which is perhaps the song most closely associated with him, but overall it was not a critical success.

The fortunes of the band rallied when Sandy Denny rejoined in 1974 and on the resulting album Rising for the Moon Dave Swarbrick took more of a backseat in writing and singing.

However, all this was done amid financial and contractual difficulties and Dave Swarbrick's hearing problems were becoming severe and were aggravated by amplified performances.

Apart from occasional reunions, particularly at the Cropredy Festival, Dave Swarbrick's performing career since 1980 focused on small venues and acoustic performances.

Dave Swarbrick's first project was a highly regarded duo with former Fairport guitarist Simon Nicol, which produced three albums.

In 1984 Dave Swarbrick decided to move to Scotland, while Nicol remained in Oxfordshire and the partnership dissolved.

From this point Dave Swarbrick left to renew his partnership with Martin Carthy, but after two albums: Life And Limb and Skin And Bone, he emigrated to Australia.

Dave Swarbrick guested with artists who were not folk musicians.

For many years Dave Swarbrick suffered steadily worsening health due to years of heavy smoking resulting in emphysema.

Dave Swarbrick received a double lung transplant in October 2004 at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and thereafter resumed his career with fervour, as a solo performer and annually on tour in the UK, every autumn, with Martin Carthy.

In 2006 Dave Swarbrick resumed touring again with ex-Fairporter Maartin Allcock and Kevin Dempsey as Swarb's Lazarus, producing the album Live and Kicking ; and appearing at the Cropredy Festival.

Dave Swarbrick's much lauded solo album Raison d'etre was released in July 2010.

In 2014 Dave Swarbrick released a full-length album with the Canadian musician Jason Wilson entitled Lion Rampant.

The tour, organised by Helen Meisner of the Folkstock Foundation, of which Dave Swarbrick was the patron, featured at each venue young, up-coming folk artists, several of them from the Folkstock stable.

Dave Swarbrick died from pneumonia on 3 June 2016, at hospital in Aberystwyth.

Dave Swarbrick had three children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

At the 2007 awards Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick won the 'Best Duo' Award.

At the 2012 Fatea Awards, Dave Swarbrick was awarded The Life Time Achievement Award.

Lloyd and Peggy Seeger, and including his work as a guest musician on the albums of many artists, Dave Swarbrick can be credited with over 167 album appearances.