31/10/2026
My word, what a week of losses. First Donal Lunny, one of my idols right from when I started listening to music as a toddler. Then Michael Young in New Zealand, a friend made from touring the world as part of my career. Now one of the most important figures in a very significant time between those two eras - Sandra Kerr, one of my tutors on the folk degree in Newcastle.
Where to start with Sandra? A legendary figure in the folk world of course from her extraordinary output dating back to the 60s and working alongside Ewan MacColl and co. Then of course many know her from her work with Bagpuss.
As a tutor she was brilliant. For starters she’s the main reason I didn’t give up singing when I started university. I didn’t have a particular downer on my singing. I just didn’t see myself as a singer and thought once I was on a music degree I’d just concentrate on my playing. Then in vocal group, a module that really changed me, Sandra pointed out a bass range I didn’t know I had and encouraged me to sing more. She also helped me with my weirdly timed breathing!
She was such a warm, friendly and jovial person but with a frankly wonderful bit of acerbity occasionally thrown in! ‘Loves, darlings, fabulous’ were three words I strongly associate with her. She believed in us all and encouraged us so much. My story is not unique - so many people she helped to transform their musical journey by making them feel like they could go places if they put the work in.
Then there was her passion for the music. Traditions of these islands was a fantastic module which she taught magnificently oozing passion and knowledge about priceless field recordings. She was also a great songwriter and taught me a great deal on that subject too.
As I mentioned, don’t be thinking Sandra was just all sweetness and light. She could throw it out when she wanted or needed to! The legendary rant about the falling clock at The Sage Gateshead and the proclamation of ‘this is not f***ing infant school’ thrown at my rather rowdily behaved class one day spring to mind but maybe not quite as much as when one of the other tutors on the course during a session tried to lend a helping hand by shouting chords at her and was met with ‘I don’t need you to tell me the f***ing chords’! It was all light hearted and fun but with a definite sense of ‘don’t mess with me’. Quite right too!
She was a proud feminist and political activist and treated it as something to engage with throughout her life which I always admired. But most of all she was Sandra - life of the party, a brilliant smile, a wicked sense of humour and a massive investor in people, politics and folk music.
RIP Sandra, you legend.
