Judy Dyble

Judith Aileen Dyble,  13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was a British singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention and Trader Horne.

In addition, she and Ian McDonald joined and recorded several tracks with Giles, Giles and Fripp, who later became King Crimson. These tracks surfaced on the Brondesbury Tapes CD and Metaphormosis vinyl LP.

Early years

Dyble was born at the Middlesex Hospital, Central London. Her first band was Judy and The Folkmen (which existed between 1964 and 1966). They made homemade demo recordings, none of which were released, but some are included on a mooted anthology of Dyble's career. (Universal/Sanctuary set a release date in 2007 for this, but the release was cancelled when Sanctuary was taken over by Universal.) She then became the original vocalist with Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1968. In November 1966 Ashley 'Tyger' Hutchings asked her to sing and play in some of the various band incarnations with himself, Richard Thompson, and Simon Nicol. They were all part of jug-bands and anything that needed a female vocal, mainly because of their reluctance to sing. This became the nucleus of Fairport Convention, initially with Shaun Frater as a drummer and later Martin Lamble. The group recorded their first album with her, their repertoire at the time consisting of both American singer-songwriter works, plus originals. The first single was a cover of a 1930s American song, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow." The band covered and re-worked numerous American recordings with the band members choosing some tracks to work with from manager Joe Boyd's record collection. The band also picked up on the works of Joni Mitchell before she was known in the UK, and covered two of her songs on the first Fairport album, which was self-titled.

Fairport's early live shows in London in the late 1960s saw Dyble share stages with names like Jimi Hendrix, and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. Famously, she sat on the front of the stage at the Speakeasy Club knitting, while Hendrix and Richard Thompson jammed. Dyble also guested on The Incredible String Band's 1968 album The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (on "The Minotaur's Song"), and on G. F. Fitz-Gerald's 1970 album Mouseproof (on "Ashes of an Empire").

After her stint with Fairport Convention, Dyble (along with her then-boyfriend Ian McDonald) joined the English pop band Giles, Giles and Fripp by famously advertising in Melody Maker. Dyble contributed to demo recordings for the group, but left after her relationship with McDonald ended. Giles, Giles, and Fripp – retaining McDonald – would later evolve into the foundation progressive rock band King Crimson.

Dyble would go on to become one half of the duo Trader Horne, with ex-Them member Jackie McAuley. Pete Sears was originally the third member of the band, but flew to the United States before recording began. The group took its name from John Peel's nanny Florence, called "Trader" Horne—a reference to explorer Trader Horn. The duo signed to Dawn (a subsidiary of Pye Records) releasing one album,[Morning Way in 1969, and two highly prized, collectible vinyl singles. Dyble wrote the title track, "Morning Way," and co-wrote "Velvet to Atone" with Martin Quittenton for the album. The pairing shared stages with acts such as Humble Pie, Yes and Genesis. The duo split a few days before they should have headlined the now legendary Hollywood festival in Newcastle Under Lyme that saw Mungo Jerry first come to public attention.

In 2008, Trader Horne was featured in Kingsley Abbott's book, 500 Lost Gems of the 60s: to coincide with this, Stuart Maconie did a one-hour biopic radio special on Dyble's career on BBC6 programme the Freak Zone, as well as a significant piece in Record Collector.

In 1973, Dyble left the music business to work with her husband, DJ and scenester Simon Stable (who had played bongos on albums by Bridget St John and Ten Years After under his real name, Count Simon de la Bédoyère). Later on, Dyble (by now a mother) worked as a librarian.

At the 1981 Fairport Convention Annual Reunion (held that year at Broughton Castle), Dyble appeared on stage as a surprise guest: backed by Fairport's Full House lineup, she sang Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" and the Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved". She also appeared as a guest in 1982 (A Week-End in The Country), 1997 (30th anniversary), 2002 (35th anniversary) and 2007 (40th anniversary).

During 2016 and 2017, Dyble concentrated on finishing a new album of her work—Summer Dancing—with various collaborators, and a new collection of songs recorded with Andy Lewis which was released in August 2017. She also recorded a duet with David Longdon on "The Ivy Gate" with Big Big Train for the album Grimspound, which was released in April 2017.

Dyble performed at Fairport's Cropredy Convention Festival with her own The Band of Perfect Strangers; and she also appeared with the surviving original members of Fairport Convention, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the band.[40] The songs sung by the "early years" line-up were "Time Will Show The Wiser", "I Don't Know Where I Stand" and "Reno Nevada". All three songs were often performed in the first year of the band's live performances in 1967–1968.

Dyble died on 12 July 2020 following a battle with lung cancer.