Ian Matthews

Genres:	Folk • Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	singer-songwriter • folk rock • british • folk-rock • rock • male vocalists • folk • 70s
Decades Active:	1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

Ian Matthew McDonald, 16 June 1946, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. McDonald left school to work as a painter and decorator but also sang with small-time Lincolnshire bands, the Classics, the Rebels and the Imps. He moved to London in 1966 and was featured as one of the vocalists in a British surfing band Pyramid, who recorded ‘The Summer Of Last Year’ single for Deram Records. To supplement his income, McDonald worked in Ravel’s shoe shop in London’s famous Carnaby Street. He learned of a vacancy for a vocalist in Fairport Convention, which he joined in 1967 before they had recorded (and before Sandy Denny joined them). He appeared on the band’s first single ‘If I Had A Ribbon Bow’, released on Track and produced by Joe Boyd, and on their debut album on Polydor Records. Fairport Convention then moved to Island Records in 1968, and Matthews appeared on their early breakthrough album, What We Did On Our Holidays, but left...

Read the Full Biography of Ian Matthews