Kirsty MacColl - Topic

Kirsty MacColl was born in Croydon, south London on 10 October 1959, the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl, and dancer / choreographer Jean Newlove. Her self-written debut single ‘They Don’t Know’ was released on Stiff Records in June 1979 (it later became a No. 2 hit for actress and comedian Tracey Ullman in October 1983). Kirsty had her biggest UK ‘solo’ hit in February 1985 when her cover of the Billy Bragg song ‘A New England’ got to No. 7, and she reached a new audience when she collaborated with The Pogues on their perennial Christmas favourite, the December 1987 No. 2 ‘Fairytale Of New York’. She released five critically acclaimed studio albums in her career – ‘Desperate Character’ (Polydor, 1981), ‘Kite’ (Virgin, 1989), ‘Electric Landlady’ (Virgin, 1991), ‘Titanic Days’ (ZTT, 1993) and ‘Tropical Brainstorm’ (V2, 2000). Kirsty’s extraordinary voice, and talents as a composer and arranger, saw her much in-demand as a backing singer, leading to work with the Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA, The Smiths, Billy Bragg, The Pogues, Robert Plant, Alison Moyet and many more.