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Johnny Collins
Pedlar of
Songs
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Johnny Collins, a native of the county of Norfolk but now
based in London, England, is a well travelled performer
specialising in the singing of shanties, sea songs and maritime
ballads.
An internationally acclaimed performer and recording artist,
Johnny has organised Folk clubs and topped the bill in concerts
around the world since the mid-fifties: his vigorous style and
his supreme ability to persuade audiences to join in choruses is
unrivalled.
Johnny is a familiar and welcome figure at many of the
world's foremost maritime venues and festivals, and has guested
in the U.S.A. at Maine Maritime Museum, Kendall Whaling Museum
and Newport News Maritime Museum. He has also delighted audiences
with several concert appearances at Mystic Seaport (U.S.A.) and
was resident shantyman at Expo '88 in Brisbane, Australia.
1983 was a highpoint in his singing career when, in
partnership with Jim Mageean, he was a winner of the Intervision
Song Contest in Rostock, GDR, with a medley of English sea
shanties. In 1987, Johnny was invited by the government of the
GDR to appear at the Berlin Shanty Festival which was organised
to celebrate 750 years of that city.
Regular forays into Europe continue to be part of Johnny's
yearly itinerary. He has been a main guest at the annual
Liereliet at the Strontrace in Workum, Netherlands for the past
21 years. He also sings regularly in Belgium, Brittany, Germany,
Holland, Poland and France.
Nearer home, he has been acclaimed as a shanty supremo at
many of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race venues, including
Southampton, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, and other U.K.
maritime festivals at Hull, Lancaster, Bristol, Dundee, Maldon,
Portsmouth, Gosport, Greenwich and Chatham.
Some Special Forthcoming Appearances
As well
as regular appearances at U.K. folk clubs, Johnny is booked at
the following festivals in 2005:
25th to 28th March - Lancaster Maritime Festival (U.K.)
23rd April - Leicester (Concert) (U.K.)
27th to 30th May - Chippenham Festival (U.K.)
10th to 12th June - Cobh Maritime Festival (Eire)
23rd to 24th July - Swansea Maritime Festival, South Wales (U.K.)
5th to 7th August - Paimpol Maritime Festival (Brittany)
26th to 28th August - Bridgnorth Festival (U.K.)
9th to 11th September - Bromyard Folk Festival (U.K.)
22nd to 23rd October - Workum International Shanty Festival (Netherlands)
26th November - Bedworth Festival (U.K.)
13th December - Cecil Sharpe House, London (U.K.)
Appearances in 2004
21st February - Concert in Berlin (Germany)
27th to 29th February - Krakow International Shanty Festival (Poland)
6th March - Concert in Leicester (U.K.)
2nd to 4th April - Heybridge Basin Festival (U.K.)
8th to 12th April - Lancaster Maritime Festival (U.K.)
16th April - Enkhuizen (Netherlands)
27th to 31st May - Chippenham Festival (U.K.)
18th to 20th June - Merseyside Maritime Festival (U.K.)
17th to 18th July - Swansea Maritime Festival, South Wales (U.K.)
9th to 10th August - Broadstairs Festival (U.K.)
20th to 22nd August - "Sea Fever" International Sea Shanty Festival - Hull (U.K.)
27th to 29th August - Bridgnorth Festival (U.K.)
4th September - Ostend Fishery Festival (Belgium)
15th to 17th September - Bromyard Folk Festival (U.K.)
15th to 17th October - Workum International Shanty Festival (Netherlands)
10th November - Gumbleton's English Tea Rooms - Enkhuizen (Netherlands)
11th November - Museum - Enkhuizen (Netherlands)
12th to 14th November - International Shanty Festival - Medemblik (Netherlands)
27th November - Bedworth Festival (U.K.)
Johnny is available for
bookings and can be contacted on:
Tel. No. +44(0) 208 866 1635
Mobile Tel. No. +44(0) 7970 174316
Fax. No. +44(0) 1923 245440
Links
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This List was last updated on 29th March 2005.
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