Editing Richard Thompson (musician) (section)

==Early life and career (1949 to 1972)==
Richard Thompson was born at 23 Ladbroke Crescent (off [[Ladbroke Grove]]), [[Notting Hill]], West London, England.<ref name="bees"/> His father, a Scot, was a [[Scotland Yard]] detective and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. He was the younger brother, by five years, of sister Perri, who became a fashion designer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/14/richard-thompson-beeswing-fairport-folk-rock-interview|title=Richard Thompson: 'I had to put the pen down, take a deep breath, have a little cry'|first=Jude|last=Rogers|newspaper=The Observer |date=14 March 2021|via=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/william-blackburn-obituary?id=32945941|title=William Blackburn Obituary (1929–2021) – Evanston, IL – Chicago Tribune|website=Legacy.com}}</ref>  While attending [[William Ellis School]] in [[Highgate]], he formed his first band, Emil and the Detectives (named after [[Emil and the Detectives|a book and a movie by the same title]]), with classmate [[Hugh Cornwell]], later lead singer and guitarist of [[the Stranglers]], on bass guitar. When he was a teenager Thompson moved with his family to [[Whetstone, London|Whetstone]], near the northern end of the underground's [[Northern line]].<ref name="bees">{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Richard |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1159043406 |title=Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967–1975 |date=2021 |publisher=Algonquin Books |isbn=978-1-61620-895-0 |edition=First |location=Chapel Hill |page=|oclc=1159043406 }}</ref>

Interviewed in 2003, Thompson said:
{{quote|Listening to [[Buddy Holly]] in 1956 was the point at which I wanted to pick up a guitar, although I didn't actually manage to do that until 1960 ... I played [[The Shadows|Shadows]] songs in school bands until I started hanging around with the guys that became Fairport Convention, and we would play [[Bob Dylan]], [[Phil Ochs]], [[Richard Fariña]] ... the American singer-songwriters. We would go to Dylan's publisher and ask for songs that hadn't been recorded. We were interested in lyrics, and we were pretty idealistic.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/feb/07/artsfeatures.europeancapitalofculture2008 | title=Folk hero | newspaper=The Guardian | date=7 February 2003 | last1=Hodgkinson | first1=Will | last2=Hodgkinson | first2=Interview by Will }}</ref>}}

Like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embraced [[rock and roll]] music at an early age, and he was also exposed to his father's [[jazz]] and [[traditional Scottish music]] record collection.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|pp=16–18|ps=}} His father had seen [[Django Reinhardt]] play in [[Glasgow]] in the 1930s and played guitar himself. He was later described by his son as "a bad amateur player ... with three chords, though, unfortunately, not C, F and G."<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/11/richard-thompson-faith-feature |title = Why Richard Thompson is keeping the faith |first= Tim |last=Adams
|newspaper = [[The Observer]] |date = 11 April 2010 |access-date = 14 May 2013}}</ref> All these musical genres were to colour Thompson's playing in the years to come.

American producer [[Joe Boyd]] said:
{{quote|He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish piper's drone and the melody of the chanter as well as echoes of [[Barney Kessel]]'s and [[James Burton]]'s guitars and [[Jerry Lee Lewis]]'s piano. But no blues clichés.{{sfn|Boyd|2005|p=167|ps=}}}}

At the age of 18 Thompson co-founded folk rock group [[Fairport Convention]]. Largely on the strength of Thompson's playing, Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|p=44|ps=}}{{sfn|Boyd|2005|p=166|ps=}}

Boyd said:
{{quote|And there was this group of very nice [[Muswell Hill]] grammar school boys and a girl playing American music. [[Leonard Cohen]] songs, and [[Richard Fariña]] songs, and [[Bob Dylan]] songs, all being done in a kind of West-Coasty rock style. And then came the guitar solo, and Richard just played the most amazing solo. He played a solo which quotes from [[Django Reinhardt|Django]], from [[Charlie Christian]], you know, an incredibly sophisticated little solo. And that really amazed me, the breadth of his sophistication... and so, you know, at the end of the gig I was in the dressing room saying 'would you guys like to make a record?'<ref name="SolitaryLife">{{cite web | title = Richard Thompson: Solitary Life | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074nw0 | access-date = 14 September 2012 | work = [[BBC]] | date = February 2003}}</ref>}}

Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity as Fairport Convention was at first essentially a [[cover band]].

{{quote|I remember saying to Ashley <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Ashley Hutchings|Hutchings]], bassist<nowiki>]</nowiki> after a gig, that I was kind of embarrassed about doing the material we were doing, because it seemed that we should have outgrown doing covers – even though it was only 1967 – it somehow wasn't good enough and other bands were writing their own stuff and we should too. I remember being angry and saying to Ashley this isn't good enough, we've got to get some original material... and stuff started to trickle through.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|pp=50–51|ps=}}}}

By early 1969, when Fairport's second album ''[[What We Did on Our Holidays]]'' was recorded and released, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport's lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "[[Meet on the Ledge]]".

[[File:FairportConvention2Kralingen1970.jpg|thumb|Richard Thompson ([[Holland Pop Festival|Kralingen 1970]], with Fairport Convention) ]]
On 12 May 1969, between the recording and release of their next album ''[[Unhalfbricking]]'', Fairport's van crashed on the [[M1 motorway]] on the way home from a gig at [[Mothers (music venue)|Mothers]], a club in [[Birmingham]]. Drummer [[Martin Lamble]], aged 19, and Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn were killed.<ref name = "SolitaryLife" /><ref name="NME Rock 'N' Roll Years">{{cite book| first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years| edition= 1st | publisher= Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | pages= 196}}</ref> The rest of the band suffered injuries of varying severity.<ref name="Sweers">{{cite book|last=Sweers|first=Britta|title=Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0195174786}}</ref> Later in 1969, Fairport re-grouped with a new drummer, [[Dave Mattacks]], and also invited the well known fiddle player, [[Dave Swarbrick]], to join. Thompson and Swarbrick worked together to create songs such as "Crazy Man Michael" from the band's seminal 1969 folk-rock album ''[[Liege & Lief]]'' and "Sloth" from its 1970 follow-up ''[[Full House (Fairport Convention album)|Full House]]''.

In January 1971, Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision was instinctive, rather than a calculated career move:

{{quote|I left Fairport as a gut reaction and didn't really know what I was doing, except writing. I was writing stuff and it seemed interesting and I thought it would be fun to make a record. And at the same time{{--}}70–71{{--}}I was doing a lot of [[session musician|session]] work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|pp=123–124|ps=}} }}

In April 1972, he released his first solo album ''[[Henry the Human Fly]]'', recording with [[Sandy Denny]], [[Pat Donaldson]], [[Sue Draheim]], [[John Kirkpatrick (folk musician)|John Kirkpatrick]], [[Barry Dransfield]], [[Ashley Hutchings]], [[Linda Thompson (singer)|Linda Peters]], [[Andy Roberts (musician)|Andy Roberts]], and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richardthompson-music.com/album.asp?id=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223202212/http://www.richardthompson-music.com/album.asp?id=5|url-status=dead|title=''Henry the Human Fly''|archive-date=23 December 2007}}</ref> The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influential ''[[Melody Maker]]'' magazine.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|p=135|ps=}} With time ''Henry'' has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.{{sfn|Humphries|1997|p=135|ps=}}