42 Facts About Sandy Denny

Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention.

Sandy Denny has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".

Sandy Denny formed the short-lived band Fotheringay in 1970, before focusing on a solo career.

Between 1971 and 1977, Denny released four solo albums: The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, Sandy, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz and Rendezvous.

Sandy Denny duetted with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" for Led Zeppelin's album Led Zeppelin IV in 1971.

Sandy Denny died in 1978 at the age of 31 from head injuries sustained as a result of a fall down a flight of stairs.

Sandy Denny's recorded work has been the subject of numerous reissues, along with a wealth of previously unreleased material which has appeared over the more than 40 years since her death, including a 19-CD box set released in November 2010.

In January 2023, Sandy Denny was ranked at number 164 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Sandy Denny was born on 6 January 1947 at Nelson Hospital, Kingston Road, Merton Park, London, to Neil and Edna Sandy Denny.

Sandy Denny's paternal grandfather was from Dundee, and her paternal grandmother was a Scots Gaelic speaker and singer of traditional Gaelic songs.

At an early age Sandy Denny showed an interest in singing, although her strict parents were reluctant to believe there was a living to be made from it.

Sandy Denny attended Coombe Girls' School in New Malden; after leaving school she began training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Sandy Denny made the first of many appearances for the BBC at Cecil Sharp House on 2 December 1966 on the Folk Song Cellar programme where she accompanied herself on two traditional songs: "Fir a Bhata" and "Green Grow the Laurels".

Sandy Denny recorded one album with them in Denmark, which was released belatedly in 1973, credited to Sandy Denny and the Strawbs: All Our Own Work.

Fairport Convention conducted auditions in May 1968 for a replacement singer following the departure of Judy Dyble after their debut album, and Sandy Denny became the obvious choice.

Sandy Denny brought with her the traditional repertoire she had refined in the clubs, including "A Sailor's Life" featured on their second album together Unhalfbricking.

Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention in December 1969 to develop her own songwriting more fully.

Fotheringay started to record a second album in late 1970, but it remained unfinished after Sandy Denny announced that she was leaving the group and producer Joe Boyd left to take up a job at Warner Brothers in California.

Sandy Denny then turned to recording her first solo album, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens.

In 1971, Sandy Denny duetted with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore", which was included on Led Zeppelin's 1971 album ; she was the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.

In 1972 Sandy Denny had a small cameo on Lou Reizner's symphonic arrangement of the Who's rock opera Tommy.

In 1974, Sandy Denny returned to Fairport Convention for a world tour and a studio album, Rising for the Moon in 1975.

Sandy Denny gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Georgia, in July 1977 after relocating to the village of Byfield in Northamptonshire.

Linda Thompson would later note that Sandy Denny "really started going downhill in 1976" and demonstrated increasing levels of both manic and depressive behaviour.

Sandy Denny's daughter, Georgia, was born prematurely in July 1977.

Friends would later note that Sandy Denny had a history of purposely throwing herself off bar stools and down flights of stairs, presumably as a humorous pratfall in the manner of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau character.

Sandy Denny could do it without hurting herself usually but I had a feeling there would be one time too many.

In late March 1978, while on holiday with her parents and baby Georgia in Cornwall, Sandy Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase and hit her head on concrete.

At some unknown point during the first half of April 1978, Sandy Denny suffered yet another major fall at her home in Byfield.

Sandy Denny sold their Austin Princess car in order to raise funds for the journey.

On discovering Lucas's departure, Sandy Denny went to stay at the home of her friend Miranda Ward.

Sandy Denny was rushed by ambulance to Queen Mary's Hospital in nearby Roehampton.

Doctors informed him that Sandy Denny was effectively brain-dead and her condition would not improve.

Sandy Denny died on 21 April 1978 without regaining consciousness.

In 1987, a compilation of previously unreleased tracks recorded for the BBC by incarnations of Fairport including Sandy Denny was released on LP under the title Heyday, which was released on CD in 2001 and again, with extra tracks, in 2002; all tracks were later included, with others, on the 2007 four-CD box set Fairport Convention Live at the BBC.

In 2002, a previously unreleased, two-CD live US concert recording by Fairport Convention from 1974 featuring Sandy Denny was released on the Burning Airlines label.

Also in 2005, a single CD compilation entitled Where the Time Goes: Sandy '67 was released on Castle Music containing all of Saga's Denny album tracks, together with two self accompanied tracks from Denny's recordings with the Strawbs.

Two-disc "Deluxe Editions" of Denny's album reissues appeared in 2011 and 2012 with additional tracks; the 2012 Deluxe Edition of Sandy included a previously unreleased eight-song solo set from her 1973 US tour recorded at Ebbet's Field in Denver, Colorado.

Sandy Denny's estate is managed by Lucas' widow, Elizabeth Hurtt-Lucas.

Sandy Denny's songs have been covered by numerous artists in the years since her death.

In 1984, Clann Eadair released the single "A tribute to Sandy Denny", featuring Phil Lynott on vocals.

The concert, which primarily featured songs written by Sandy Denny, received a four-star review in The Guardian.