Vashti Bunyan - Biography
Vashti Bunyan is a British singer-songwriter who has had a remarkably unusual career. After making as splash in 60's Swinging London as something of a pop chanteuse, she left it all behind and moved to the countryside only to return and record an album that would become a much sought-after collector's item decades later. She dropped out of sight for nearly thirty years before being rediscovered in the new millennium, resuming her musical career, and gaining a devoted following of fans both young and old, folk and freak.
Vashti Bunyan was born in London in 1945, to parents John and Helen Bunyan, and is believed to be a direct descendant of The Pilgrim's Progress author and preacher John Bunyan. Young Vashti was a creative child and grew up loving music and art. By the time she graduated secondary school, she had decided that she wanted to study art in college. She was accepted at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University, but once enrolled she took up the guitar and fell under the sway of the folk music revival that was sweeping the US and Great Britain. She became so engrossed in playing guitar, singing, and writing songs, that she was soon expelled from Ruskin for failing to show up to classes.
At the age of 18, Bunyan traveled to New York and was exposed to the folk clubs of the city and, more importantly, the influence of Bob Dylan. Upon her return to England, she decided to pursue the dream of becoming a full-time musician. By this time Swinging London was in full swing, and it was just a short matter of time before this attractive young girl with the sweet voice and original songs was picked up by an enterprising agent. That agent was none other than the Rolling Stones’ manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham, and she was soon signed to a development deal. Oldham got the young singer in the studio and recorded her debut single “Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind,” a song written by the Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The single, released in 1965, was backed by one of Bunyan's own songs, “I Want to Be Alone,” and was released on Decca Records under her first name, Vashti.
In 1966, Bunyan released a single with Columbia Records called “Train Song.” Unfortunately, neither of her first two singles seemed to catch the ear of the public, which may have been due to Oldham's insistence that she not go on tour to support her songs. The following year, she recorded back-up vocals for the duo Twice As Much (another act managed by Oldham) on their song "Coldest Night of the Year." Bunyan also recorded her original songs during this time, but they would remain unreleased until 2007.
A regular in the London psychedelic scene, Bunyan appeared in the 1967 documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love In London performing her song “Winter Is Blue,” and also was featured on the American music show Shindig.
Having had enough of the London scene and tired of her failed attempts at starting a musical career, Bunyan decided to take an offer from her friend and hero Donovan to meet up in Scotland on the Isle of Skye for a go at living off of the land. With a small loan from Donovan, Bunyan and her boyfriend Robert Lewis commandeered an old bakery delivery cart and a black horse named Bess, and set out on a slow-paced trip through the North of England to the Isle of Skye. Along the way, they stopped to take odd jobs digging gardens, painting, and making household repairs to sustain themselves financially. The pair ran into many scrapes with local police and landowners, but also met other interesting travelers they formed kinships with. All the while, Bunyan was writing songs on her guitar.
She took a short break from her journey to go on a tour of Holland and Belgium in early 1969. Upon returning to London, she contacted American ex-pat producer Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, Nick Drake) about recording the songs she had been working on while on the road to the Isle of Skye. With an advance from Boyd, Bunyan met up again with Lewis in the Lake District of England, and the two proceeded on to Scotland. When they finally got to the Isle of Skye, Donovan was just about to leave, so the pair continued on to the Isle of Berneray, in the Outer Hebrides. Once in Isle of Berneray, the couple found a small, crumbling house by a bay that they bought for the princely sum of 150 pounds. Once they were somewhat settled, Bunyan contacted Boyd back in London, and returned to the city to record what would become her seminal album, Just Another Diamond Day (1970 Philips).
Boyd had assembled an all-star cast of musicians from the British folk scene to play on the album, including Robin Williamson from the pioneering psych-folk band The Incredible String Band, Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol from Fairport Convention, and the arranger Robert Kirby, who would go on to gain acclaim as the string arranger for Nick Drake's first two albums. Though the album gained favorable reviews upon its release in late 1970, it failed to connect with the public and sold dismally. Heartbroken and disappointed that there was not a visible audience for her music, Bunyan returned to Lewis and Berneray, and turned her back on the music business. After a stint living at The Incredible String Band's commune Glen Row Cottages, she and Lewis eventually moved to Ireland and raised carthorses and three children.
In 1997 Bunyan looked herself up on the Internet using her new computer and found that copies of Just Another Diamond Day were trading for obscene amounts of money. It seemed her voice and vision had finally found an audience, but it pained her that there were so few of the original albums around. After reestablishing contacts with old friends and associates, she eventually secured the rights to her album and was able to reissue it on CD on the Spinney Records label in 2000. At around the same time, Bunyan was discovered by a whole new generation of enthusiasts of left-field folk, most notably leaders of the so-called freak folk movement like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Animal Collective. A letter from Banhart spearheaded Bunyan's contact with these younger musicians who cited her as a major influence. This led to the re-release of Just Another Diamond Day becoming an underground hit, some thirty years after its initial release.
In 2002, she was asked by Piano Magic member Glen Johnson to sing vocals on their song “Crown of the Lost,” which appeared on the album Writers Without Homes (2002 4AD). It marked the first time she had been in a studio since 1969. Piano Magic had her back for “Dark Ages” on their EP Saint Marie (2003 Green UFOs).
After appearing on Banhart’s Rejoicing in the Hands (2004 Young God) and an EP by Animal Collective called Prospect Hummer (2005 Fat Cat Records), she once again grabbed her guitar and recorded her second album Lookaftering (2005 Fat Cat Records), released in 2005. Guests on the album included Newsom, Banhart, Otto Hauser of Espers, Adem, and Adam Pierce of Mice Parade. Old and new fans hailed the album and Bunyan set out on a short North American tour during 2006, playing material spanning her entire career.
A compilation of much of her early material and demos titled Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind — Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967 (2007 Fat Cat Records/ DiChristina) was released in 2007. Bunyan was amassing more new fans than ever and her song “Diamond Day” even appeared in a television commercial for T-Mobil. She also appeared as a special guest vocalist with the Heritage Orchestra during a performance of the score of Blade Runner at the Meltdown Festival, which was curated by Massive Attack in London in the summer of 2008.
