Fairport Convention Co-founder Judy Dyble Dies at 71
Fairport Convention co-founding vocalist Judy Dyble died July 12 after “a long illness borne with great courage,” said an announcement on her Facebook page.
Dyble was 71 and had been battling lung cancer, her former Fairport bandmate Richard Thompson said.
“All my thoughts and prayers,” the guitarist wrote on Facebook.
Dyble left Fairport Convention after its 1968 self-titled debut and briefly joined King Crimson precursor Giles, Giles & Fripp. She sung lead vocals on the first version of “I Talk to the Wind,” which was eventually released on the 1976 compilation, The Young Person's Guide to King Crimson.
After decades away from the music scene, Dyble re-emerged for Fairport Convention’s 30th-anniversary reunion. She went on to make a string of 21st-century solo albums; the most recent, Earth is Sleeping, arrived in 2018.
“Judy Dyble was a genuinely lovely person with a beautiful voice,” former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett tweeted. “I’m very sad to hear the news of her death.”
Her final album, Between a Breath and a Breath, was recorded with Big Big Train’s David Longdon and will be released Sept. 25.
Longdon composed the music to accompany Dyble’s lyrics on the LP and said she “wrote articulately and unflinchingly about the autumn phase of her life,” adding, “she dealt with her illness with incredible courage and fortitude.
“She suspected this album was her swan song and she gave it her all,” Longdon said in his statement. “Judy reassured me that she’d had a great life. Which indeed she did. And I will miss her greatly.”
7/12/20
