Les Cousins was a folk and blues club in the basement of a restaurant in Greek Street , in the Soho district of London , England. It was most prominent during the British folk music revival of the mid-1960s and was known as a venue where musicians of the era met and learnt from each other. As such, it was influential in the careers of, for example, Jackson C. Frank , Al Stewart , Marc Brierley , Davey Graham , Bert Jansch , John Renbourn , Sandy Denny , John Martyn , Alexis Korner , The Strawbs , Roy Harper , The Young Tradition and Paul Simon . Several albums were recorded there.
17-513: Les Cousins may refer to: Les Cousins (music club) , a 1960s folk and blues club in Greek Street, Soho, London Les Cousins (film) , a 1959 film by Claude Chabrol See also [ edit ] All pages with titles containing Les Cousins Le cousin L. S. Cousins Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
34-418: A "rich cello-like" vocal style, she is also an accomplished guitar player who credits John Martyn and Michael Chapman as her "musical brothers". St John grew up in a musical household where her mother and sisters were all accomplished pianists. She took piano lessons at her mother's behest, but she did not get along with her teacher and quit when she was 11. After studying the viola for two years and then
51-543: A compilation LP 49 Greek Street was released, featuring artists associated with the club such as Synanthesia, Keith Christmas , Andy Roberts , Robin Scott, Tin Angel, Al Jones , Mike Hart and Nadia Cattouse , although most of the tracks were studio recordings. Ironically, according to Emma Matheou whose father ran the club, the door depicted on the cover is from another address in Greek Street. Long sought after by collectors,
68-510: A large number of BBC Radio and Peel sessions and toured regularly on the British college and festival circuit. St John appeared at leading folk venues in the UK, along with other folk and pop luminaries of the time such as Nick Drake , Paul Simon , and David Bowie , among others. In 1974 she was voted fifth most popular female singer in that year's Melody Maker readers poll. Blessed with
85-577: The Flying Fish" for his Shooting at the Moon release. Her second album, Songs for the Gentle Man , was produced by Ron Geesin and released in 1971. This album was a significant step up from her debut, and contained string arrangements mostly by Geesin himself, particularly striking on the opening track "A Day A Way" and "Seagull- Sunday." Her third album Thank You For... , released in 1972,
102-637: The album was reissued on CD in Japan (JASKCD193) in 2007. 51°30′51″N 0°07′52″W / 51.5141°N 0.1311°W / 51.5141; -0.1311 Bridget St John Bridget St John (born Bridget Anne Hobbs ; 4 October 1946 in East Molesey, Surrey , England ) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel 's Dandelion record label. Peel produced her debut album, Ask Me No Questions . She also recorded
119-457: The bass player for the 1970s jazz-funk band Stuff . St John has toured with Michael Chapman , and in 2016 she recorded with Chapman for his 50 release. She was described by John Peel as "the best lady singer-songwriter in the country". St John's song Back to Stay is the opening credits soundtrack of the 2017 Korean film The Cage by Iranian-German director Lior Shamriz , lip-synced by queer Korean drag queen . St John recorded
136-1035: The public eye for over 20 years. She took part in the Strawbs 25th Anniversary festival held in 1993. St John released a 'come-back' album in 1996, Take The Fifth and appeared at a Nick Drake tribute concert in New York City in 1999. She toured Japan in 2006 with the minimalist French musician Colleen , and appeared with the Electric Strawbs in the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill (NYC) on 27 June 2007. Aside from work under her own name, St John has recorded with Mike Oldfield on his albums Ommadawn (1975) and Amarok (1990), and with Kevin Ayers and Robin Frederick. In 2007 she reunited with Ayers to record "Baby Come Home" on his album The Unfairground . In 2008 she married Gordon Edwards, who served as
153-459: The story of a young man from the country who comes to the city to study law, but is distracted by the rowdy cousin with whom he shares lodgings. However, the name was usually pronounced with English pronunciation, rather than French. The decor included a huge wagon wheel and fishing nets. The club was noted for its all-night sessions and was favoured by the innovative musicians who were less welcome in more purist traditional folk clubs. Noel Murphy
170-477: The title Les Cousins . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Les_Cousins&oldid=1139196294 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Les Cousins (music club) Les Cousins
187-547: The trumpet for two years, St John bought a guitar with £ 20 her grandmother gave her shortly before she finished high school. Her first performances were at Sheffield University in 1964–5, and her very first "proper gig" was at a pub in Rotherham . In 1967, St John spent three months in Aix-en-Provence as part of her French studies. During this period she met American singer-songwriter Robin Frederick . When it
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#1732801178184204-687: Was also a regular performer. The club closed in 1972. On 24 November 2004, Les Cousins was reopened for a special Nick Drake tribute, to celebrate his brief but influential career. As of 2007 a club in Oxford, at the Holywell Music Room, calls itself "Les Cousins". Roy Harper recorded his album Live At Les Cousins there, 30 August 1969 and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble ( John Stevens and Evan Parker plus Peter Kowald ) also recorded there in 1967. In 1970
221-482: Was even more ambitious and used more musicians with a folk-rock sound. The album was her last album for John Peel's Dandelion label, however, which folded due to its artists' lack of commercial success. St John's adventurous fourth album Jumblequeen , released through Chrysalis Records in 1974, garnered critical praise in Spare Rib . St John emigrated to Greenwich Village in 1976 and virtually disappeared from
238-458: Was opened on Friday 16 April 1965 in a basement venue at 49, Greek Street, Soho (some sources give the address as 48 Greek Street), which had earlier served as a 1950s skiffle club. Upstairs was the Dionysus restaurant owned by a family called Matheou, whose son, Andy Matheou ran the basement club. The club was reputed to have taken its name from Claude Chabrol 's film Les Cousins (1959),
255-430: Was produced by Peel and recorded in nine to ten hours. "Curl Your Toes" and "Ask Me No Questions" featured Martyn on second guitar. Richie Unterberger reviewing for AllMusic called the album "music for wandering through meadows on overcast days", while admitting that the songs are not as good as those of the musically similar Nick Drake . In 1970, St John recorded a vocal duet with Kevin Ayers on "The Oyster and
272-1280: Was the first resident musician and compere. Other residents included Alexis Korner and Roy Harper . Les Cousins was described by Roy Harper as "a spawning ground" for musical talent. In similar vein, Ian Anderson (editor of fRoots ) said: "the music got so exciting, 'cause everybody listened to everybody else. So although you might choose to just play one thing, at the same time, you had an open mind for something else." Notable performers included Alexis Korner , Ralph McTell , The Young Tradition, Sandy Denny , Bert Jansch , Alex Campbell , Wizz Jones , Paul Simon , Joni Mitchell , Marc Brierley , Nick Drake , Al Stewart , Long John Baldry , The Incredible String Band , John Martyn , Cat Stevens , Jackson C. Frank , Martin Carthy , Linda Thompson , Julie Felix , Bridget St John , Donovan , Bob Dylan , The Watersons , Arlo Guthrie , Stephane Grappelli and Diz Disley , Davey Graham , Spider John Koerner , Anne Briggs , Stefan Grossman , Champion Jack Dupree , and Tom Rush , Dave and Toni Arthur , The Sallyangie (a duo consisting of siblings Mike and Sally Oldfield ) among others. The blues singer and former Larry Parnes protege rocker, Duffy Power ,
289-970: Was time to return to England, St John travelled back to London with Robin Frederick. It was through Frederick that St John met John Martyn when he was living in Richmond. He was instrumental in getting St John's music out to a larger audience. In 1968, a poet friend of theirs, Pete Roche, put St John in touch with John Peel for his "Nightride" radio show. St John's first recording sessions for Peel were recorded by Al Stewart in 1968 on Stewart's ReVox . The four songs she recorded were released on John Peel Presents Top Gear , Peel's 1969 compilation of BBC demos. The four songs were: "The River" (written by Martyn), "Song To Keep You Company" (written by St John), "Night In The City" (written by Joni Mitchell ), and "Lazarus" (traditional). Peel and Clive Selwood formed Dandelion initially to release St John's music. St John's 1969 debut album for Dandelion, Ask Me No Questions ,
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