Richard Thompson
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Richard Thompson (born April 3, 1949) is a musician, best-known as a guitar player and songwriter.
Richard studied classical guitar for two years in his teens. He might have studied English literature after his A-levels but had a musical career in mind. He left school in 1967 and became an apprentice with a stained-glass maker for about 6 months. This gave enough spare time to play music in the evenings. He first became prominent as a founding member of British folk-rockers Fairport Convention, a group sometimes dubbed "the English Jefferson Airplane." During his Fairport days, Thompson wrote the song "Meet on the Ledge," which remained Fairport's most requested tune and also his well-known folk-rock ballad, "Genesis Hall."
Thompson went solo in 1971, releasing the album Henry The Human Fly in 1972. Richard then began performing with wife Linda and I Want To see The Bright Lights Tonight (1974) was the first of six albums from the duo. This first album and the last, Shoot Out The Lights (1982), are the most notable of the duo's releases. The couple divorced in 1982, and he now performs solo again. Thompson's albums are often acclaimed by critics, and his guitar work has long received the respect of his peers (Rolling Stone placed him at #19 on their 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time), but over the years he has found only moderate commercial success. His solo recordings have received two Grammy Award nominations, one for Best Alternative Music Album for Rumour and Sigh (1992), his most commercially popular album to date, and one for Best Contemporary Folk Album for his double CD you? me? us? (1996).
At the time of their separation Linda had just given birth to their third child Kamilla, who together with her brother Teddy (who started his own career in 2003), and their father, recorded on Linda's album Fashionably Late, which also included ex-Pentangle bass player Danny Thompson (no relation), a frequent collaborator with Richard on his recent albums.
Thompson has made two records with John French, Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser under the name French Frith Kaiser Thompson. He has made dozens of appearances as a session musician, including albums by Bonnie Raitt, Beausoleil, Nile Rodgers, Nick Drake, Crowded House, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III (whom Richard has toured with), Ashley Hutchings and John Kirkpatrick.
Discography
Mainstream Albums
- Fairport Convention
- Fairport Convention (1968)
- Heyday:BBC Radio Sessions (BBC 1968-69) (1987)
- What We Did On Our Holidays (1969)
- Unhalfbricking (1969)
- Liege and Lief (1969)
- Full House (album)|Full House (1970)
- The History of Fairport Convention
- Live At The LA Troubadour
- House Full
- Richard and Linda Thompson
- I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
- Hokey Pokey (1975)
- Pour Down Like Silver (1975)
- First Light (1978)
- Sunnyvista (1979)
- Shoot Out The Lights (1982)
- Solo or with own backing band
- Henry The Human Fly (1972)
- Guitar, Vocal (1976)
- Strict Tempo! (1981)
- Hand Of Kindness (1983)
- Small Town Romance
- Across A Crowded Room (1985)
- Amnesia (1988)
- Daring Adventures (1986)
- Rumour And Sigh (1991)
- Two Letter Words
- Mirror Blue (1994)
- You? Me? Us? (1996)
- Celtschmerz
- Mock Tudor (2000)
- Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years (2001)
- Semi Detached Mock Tudor (2002)
- The Old Kit Bag (2003)
- 1000 Years of Popular Music (2003)
- More Guitar (2003)
- Ducknapped (2004)
- Faithless (2004)
- The Chrono Show (2004)
- Live In Austin,Tx (2005)
- Richard & Danny Thompson
- Live At Crawley (1995)
- Industry (1997)
- French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson
- Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (1987)
- Invisible Means (1990)
- Philip Pickett and Richard Thompson
- The Bones of all Men (1998)
This list is incomplete, please help to complete it.
External links
- BeesWeb: Official web site (http://richardthompson-music.com/)
- http://www.richardthompsonforcompletists.compl:Richard Thompson