hypersongs

Keith Christmas

An English folk singer, songwriter and guitarist from Essex and Bristol who played on David Bowie's Space Oddity sessions, recorded Stimulus (1969), Fable of the Wings (1970) and Pigmy (1971), and closed the last with "Forest and the Shore".

Bristol, Bowie and the first albums

Keith Peter Christmas was born on October 13, 1946 in Wivenhoe, near Colchester, and read architecture at Bath University, a school then based in Bristol, where he became part of the folk scene around the Troubadour club. In 1969 he met David Bowie at the Three Tuns in Beckenham and was booked as a featured guest at Bowie's Beckenham Arts Lab. Bowie then asked him to play on what became Space Oddity, with no rehearsal and improvised parts; Christmas says he played on "Letter to Hermione", "God Knows I'm Good" and "Occasional Dream".

His debut, Stimulus, came out on RCA Victor in 1969 through Sandy Roberton's September Productions, recorded in London on a four-track with Mighty Baby musicians. He played the Beckenham Free Festival, which he said was not very successful in terms of numbers and lacked atmosphere, having been used to the Troubadour and Les Cousins, and the first Glastonbury in 1970, which he remembers as such a nothing gig. Fable of the Wings (B&C, 1970) had Keith Tippett on piano, Pat Donaldson and Mike Evans on bass, Gerry Conway and Roger Powell on drums, Ian Whiteman on keyboards and Shelagh McDonald on vocals. Pigmy followed in 1971.

Manticore and later years

He says that in 1972 Roberton dropped him after the label went bust owing royalties, and he was left homeless and sofa-surfing. Greg Lake signed him to Manticore for two albums, and Brighter Day (1974) was made at Command Studios with Pete Sinfield taking over production. Stories from the Human Zoo (1976) was recorded at Indigo Ranch in the USA, with Donald Dunn and Steve Cropper per Wikipedia, and was poorly received as punk took hold. He sang on Esperanto's Danse Macabre, produced by Sinfield, then worked on a building site and later retrained as a teacher in Bristol.

Brass Monkey covered "Fable of the Wings" in 1983. In the 1990s he formed the blues band Weatherman (album 1992, Coach House Studios, Bristol), and Love Beyond Deals (1996) was produced by Ashley Hutchings. Later albums were Acoustica (2003), Light of the Dawn (2006), Fat Cat Big Fish (2011), Crazy Dancing Days (2016) and Life, Life (September 1, 2019), recorded almost live at Sambourne House Studios. He played Bowie festivals in Beckenham in 2017 and 2019 that raised funds for the Bowie Bandstand. A compilation of 1969 to 1971 material, Timeless and Strange, appeared on Sanctuary in 2004. He died in October 2026, aged 79; Wikipedia cites a Times notice for October 8 and MusicBrainz gives October 9, and we found no independent obituary.

Albums

  • Pigmy 1971 · B&C

    His third album: acoustic songs with orchestral arrangements by Robert Kirby, a section of the London Symphony Orchestra and Rod Argent on keyboards.

Songs

  • Forest and the Shore Pigmy · 1971

    The closing track of Pigmy, with a choral and string arrangement by Robert Kirby.

Sources

  1. Keith Christmas, Wikipedia
  2. Keith Christmas interview, The Strange Brew (2020)
  3. Keith Christmas, Mainly Norfolk
  4. Keith Christmas, Pigmy, The Rising Storm (2011-06-27)