Eliza Carthy

Biography

23 August 1975, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson (the Watersons), Eliza Carthy could hardly escape the music of her parents. Her earliest memory is of falling asleep in the kitchen to the strains of a Watersons’ practice session. As she grew older she was quickly inducted into the Watersons’ ranks, but chose fiddle rather than learn from her master guitarist father - principally because he was too often absent to teach her. In 1989, she formed the Waterdaughters with her mother, aunt and cousin. In 1990 she met fiddle player Nancy Kerr. They toured together extensively as a duo and recorded two acclaimed albums for Mrs Casey Records. Between albums she teamed up with her parents (as Waterson:Carthy) to record one of the best-received English folk albums for several years, voted Folk Roots ’ Critic’s Choice of 1994. Wide-ranging critical approval also greeted the February 1996 release of her...

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