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Folk singer Roy Harper accused of sexual assault on a child
11.15.2013
12:35 pm
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British folk singer Roy Harper, 72, has been charged with nine counts of sexual assault perpetrated on a girl from the age of twelve according to published reports.

On Monday, Harper is due at the Hereford Magistrates’ Court to answer the charges. Police in West Mercia have revealed that the alleged offenses were to have been committed between 1975 and 1977.

Harper lives in County Cork, Ireland. The summons was issued on October 16th, but Harper was first questioned about the matter at Heathrow Airport back in February.

Harper has performed with Pink Floyd (that’s his voice on “Have a Cigar”), recorded with Jimmy Page, and Led Zeppelin did a tribute to him, “Hats Off to Roy Harper.” He was having a late in life career resurgence and has just ended a sold-out tour. Harper was awarded MOJO magazine’s “Hero Award” in 2005 and fetted at a 70th birthday celebration at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 2011.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.15.2013
12:35 pm
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Hats off to Roy Harper: Kate Bush, Johnny Marr and Jimmy Page think he’s a genius, so have a cigar!
06.28.2013
01:38 pm
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Although singer/guitarist Roy Harper has long been well-known to the rock snob cognoscenti through his classic 1970 album Stormcock, as well as his associations with Led Zeppelin (”Hats Off to Roy Harper” from Led Zeppelin III, is obviously a tribute to him) and Pink Floyd (that’s Harper on “Have a Cigar”), it’s only really been in recent years that his music is getting the attention it deserves.

The Smiths’ Johnny Marr said of Harper’s Stormcock (and I agree 1000%):

If ever there was a secret weapon of a record it would be Stormcock... It’s intense and beautiful and clever: [Bowie’s] Hunky Dory‘s big, badder brother.

Kate Bush, who has recorded with Harper on several occasions over the years, told BBC Radio’s Paul Gambaccini:

Roy is one of the greatest English songwriters we’ve had, and people just don’t realize it. And I really think that when they do we’re going to have another top songwriter up there. He’s brilliant.

Harper has been cited as a strong influence by several important younger musicians in recent years, including Joanna Newsom, Jonathan Wilson and Will Oldham.

This extraordinarily intimate 30-minute performance was originally broadcast on Norweigan TV in 1970, but probably dates from the previous year.

“One For All”
“Today Is Yesterday” (aka “Garden of Gethsemane” which Harper informs the viewer was written the day before)
“Hell’s Angels”
“How Does It Feel”
“Forever”
 

 
Via MOJO

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.28.2013
01:38 pm
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Roy Harper and Carol White star in John MacKenzie’s lost film ‘Made’ from 1972

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Dangerous Minds reader, Eric Kleptone kindly shared this early film Made, by the late and sadly missed director, John Mackenzie, best known for the exceptional The Long Good Friday and his work with brilliant playwright, Peter McDougallMade is adapted from a play by Howard Barker, one of the most prolific and original playwrights in modern English theater.

Barker is a writer of secrets, who sees theater as a place where secrets can be shared. What he is not interested in is enlightening the audience with “truths”::

“When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behavior. Sometimes this is dangerous, but it should be. As I say often, theatre is a dark place and we should keep the light out of it.”

This is true of Made (1972), in which Barker speculates on the behavior of single mother, Valerie Marshall (played by Carol White), and her relationships with a musician, Mike Preston (played by folk singer/songwriter Roy Harper, yes, The Roy Harper), and a priest, Father Dyson (John Castle), while dealing with her family and elderly mother (Margery Mason). It’s very much a film of its time - a mix of social observation and exploration of identity, sexuality and independence, which often promises more than it delivers. But MacKenzie draws good performances and keeps the film moving.

Roy Harper contributed to the soundtrack, which became his classic album Lifemask.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Frankie Miller in Peter McDougall’s ‘Just a Boys’ Game’


Cast and Crew: ‘The Making of ‘The Long Good Friday’


 
With thanks to Eric Kleptone
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.04.2011
06:38 pm
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Roy Harper: Stormcock
11.09.2009
04:41 pm
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Continuing on from yesterdays’ Lucifer’s Friend post, why it’s, it’s… the greatest folk album of the 1970s! Why has nobody heard of this one? Is it the tremendously unexciting cover art? The lack of any kind of pandering to any audience or demographic? The, um, name of the album? Regardless, there’s no good reason why this album remains buried, lost in the annals of history. It’s like an hour of Johnny Appleseed blowing up your head with the sheer awesomeness of his guitar magic, then planting a tree in your head cavity that immediately grows into a 80 foot tall cedar that unleashes 17 red doves from its branches that fly off to establish 200 years of peace in the world.

Uh, Wikipedia has this to say:

Stormcock is a 1971 album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper, commonly acknowledged to be his “best record”.

What? That’s it? That’s like saying that the existence of the universe is god’s “best idea.”

Witness the miracle below.

(Roy Harper: Stormcock)

Posted by Jason Louv
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11.09.2009
04:41 pm
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