Richard Thompson

British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson earned a place in history as one of the earliest and most influential practitioners of folk-rock as a founding member of Fairport Convention in the 1960s, but in subsequent decades he has established himself as one of the most gifted songwriters and exploratory guitarists in rock. Born in Notting Hill, London, in 1949, Thompson absorbed various styles of music—like the jazz manouche of Django Reinhardt or traditional Scottish folk—with sponge-like voraciousness, forming his first band, Emil and the Detectives, with future Stranglers leader Hugh Cornwell on bass while they were still at school. Thompson co-founded Fairport Convention in 1967, inspired by the sounds of American folk-rock, but the band quickly began writing its own material that tapped into British folk traditions. By 1970, Thompson’s ambitions had eclipsed the group’s music and he launched a solo career, releasing his first album, Henry the Human Fly, in 1972, which captured the stunning development of his writing, singing, and guitar playing. The same year, he married singer Linda Peters, and the couple made a string of soulful, tuneful albums of uncommon depth and sophistication, with songs that ultimately chronicled the acidic dissolution of their marriage—the harsh denouement captured on their finale together, 1982’s Shoot Out the Lights. Carrying on as a solo artist, Thompson has released a steady stream of thoughtful recordings and toured internationally ever since, reinforcing his reputation as one of rock’s most poetic figures, his popularity never quite matching his broad influence. Teddy Thompson, his and Linda’s son, is also an accomplished singer/songwriter who brought his parents together for the collaborative 2014 album Family.