KIRSTY MACCOLLlived on the fringe of music stardom despite her witty and insightful lyrics, and died on 18 December, 2000, aged 41, protecting her son from a speeding powerboat whilst scuba diving in Mexico.The speedboat driver was convicted but not jailed, prompting Ms MacColl's family to launch an ongoing campaign for justice.Her music defied conventional classification and she suffered stage fright, which limited her commercial success. But she reached the UK top 20 singles chart four times, once with Celtic punk band The Pogues on “Fairytale of New York” (1987).As the wife of music producer Steve Lillywhite and a talented vocalist, she was never short of work as a backing singer for artists such as the Rolling Stones and Morrissey.Kirsty Anna MacColl was born on 10 October, 1959, in Croydon. Her mother was a dancer and her father was communist folk singer Ewan MacColl.Her first serious foray into live performance was as part of local punk band Drug Addix in 1978. Record label Stiff Records were not impressed by the band but signed Kirsty as a soloist in 1979.Her debut single, “They Don’t Know” (1979), failed to reach the charts. After a second unsuccessful single, she moved to Polydor Records who released her first UK Top 20, “There's A Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis” (1981).Polydor dropped her in 1983 and she returned to Stiff. After releasing her second UK Top 10, Stiff went bankrupt and no record label bought her contract. She became a backing singer on records produced by Steve Lillywhite, whom she married in 1984.Her comeback came in December 1987 with The Pogues UK No. 2 hit “Fairytale of New York”. She toured with The Pogues before re-launching a solo career with the album “Kite” (1989).Enduring success again eluded her when ZTT Records released the album inspired by her divorce, “Titanic Days” (1994), but didn’t sign a contract. Her ‘best of’ album “Galore” (1995) reached the UK Top 10, but her new singles flopped.Disillusione d with the record industry and suffering from writers’ block, she stopped recording for several years until trips to Cuba and Brazil re-inspired her. Her Latin-inspired final album “Tropical Brainstorm” (2000) was possibly her best.In December 2000, she took a well-earned diving holiday in Mexico with her two sons. Emerging from a dive, she saw a powerboat speeding towards her son, Jamie. She was killed as she pushed him out of the way.The powerboat was owned by Mexican supermarket millionaire, Guillermo Nova, who claimed it was being driven by a boathand. The boathand was ordered to pay a fine based on a percentage of his wages rather than going to prison.Ms MacColl's family allege that the boathand was neither at the helm nor should have been, and that the boat’s owner was responsible. They launched a campaign: Justice for Kirsty.The BBC made a documentary about the case “Who Killed Kirsty MacColl?” shown in 2005. Other posthumous tributes have included a 2004 biography, “Kirsty MacColl: The One and Only”, and a retrospective three CD-set spanning her career.In addition, Catherine Tate adopted the track “In These Shoes” from album “Tropical Brainstorm” as the theme tune for BBC TV series “The Catherine Tate Show”.
Keep me informed of updates
