Den store stemmen fra Skottland

Fact profile from a series that festival organiser Tom Skjeklesæther wrote for Halden Arbeiderblad about the artists of Down on the Farm 2007 (Gribsrød gård, Enningdalen near Halden). Header with fact box (Fife, born 1950), listening recommendations (The Mystery of Love, Oh What a Blow That Phantom Dealt Me!, and by Doll by Doll Gypsy Blood and Doll by Doll, both on CD for the first time in 2007) and jackieleven.com.

The familiar biography is retold: Leven as a troubadour of “classic Celtic soul” alongside Van Morrison; ten years' pause after the dissolution of Doll by Doll (given here as 1984), because at the start of the recordings for his solo debut in London he was said to have been attacked and almost strangled and unable to speak for almost two years; heroin addiction; in 1988 a single with the new band CBI with two Doll by Doll members and Glen Matlock. At the end of the 1980s he is said to have freed himself from heroin with a method he developed himself, which became the basis of the CORE organisation; Leven sits on its board today and received England's highest civil award for CORE. Indirectly Princess Diana brought him back to music: during a CORE visit he struck up an old Scottish song when she asked him.

Important for Norway: Doll by Doll had a strong Norwegian fan base and in 1982 opened the rock club Ratz in Oslo with a sold-out concert, one of the band's last. Since 1994 twelve official solo albums plus fan-club records; collaborations with Robert Bly, Ian Rankin, David Thomas and Johnny Dowd, the last at Down on the Farm in 1998. Leven is said to be known for improvised collaborations on stage and, together with Robyn Hitchcock and John Paul Jones, is to host the new Campfire Stage.