A key and beloved figure in the British folk scene, Mike Waterson was best known as a member of the premier family folk group the Watersons, whose distinct harmonies and largely a cappella arrangements made them pivotal figures of the British folk revival of the 1960s. In 1972, with the Watersons on hiatus, Mike and his sister Lal cut the folk-noir classic Bright Phoebus, an eccentric and genre-hopping collection of original material that's been hailed as the English folk equivalent of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. His final stage performance was in 2010 at the Bromyard Folk Festival. He passed away the following year at the age of 70 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. ~ James Christopher Monger