Jackie Leven obituary

The most important British newspaper obituary, written by the Guardian folk and world music critic Robin Denselow, who had known Leven since the late 1970s and had interviewed him himself in 1988. Denselow calls Leven a brilliant outsider with a loyal cult following but without the success he deserved. He sketches the background in Kirkcaldy (Roma descent, in Leven's own account), the early marriage at 16, the wandering years as a labourer and the stage name John St Field. Doll by Doll guitarist Joe Shaw is given extensive space: getting to know each other in a folk club in Bridport (Dorset), a shared squat in Dorset, a meeting in Hamburg, a rehearsal room in the Maida Vale squat. Denselow quotes his own characterisation of Leven at the time as a mixture of Van Morrison and psychopath, and mentions Gypsy Blood and the U2 support slot at the London venue. Next come the 1984 mugging in north London (ribs broken, larynx almost destroyed), the heroin addiction (Leven told Denselow of £150 a day), the cure through acupuncture and reflexology, and the founding of the CORE Trust with Carol Wolf, supported by Pete Townshend and Westminster City Council. At a meeting in 1988, Leven preferred to talk about CORE rather than Concrete Bulletproof Invisible (with Shaw and Glen Matlock). Cooking Vinyl boss Martin Goldschmidt says it took him two years to sign Leven, and that he released 26 albums; he calls the whisky brand “Leven's Lament” and the Dylan song story on the train to Moscow “scams”. Mentioned are Mystery of Love with Robert Bly and Mike Scott, Sir Vincent Lone, Deborah Greenwood, David Thomas and Jackie Leven Said with Ian Rankin. Overall tone: warm, respectful, with the expectation that the music will find a larger audience.