Jacqui McShee

Jacqueline “Jacqui” McShee is an English singer from Catford, South East London, born in 1943. She is associated with folk, Celtic and Irish folk music, and is best known for her long connection with Pentangle and related projects.

Career

McShee begins her musical career as a solo singer in British folk clubs in the mid-1960s. After working with guitarist John Renbourn, she co-founds Pentangle. From 1966 she performs with the band, which develops as a jazz-influenced folk rock group and becomes one of the early acts in British folk rock. The group attracts listeners from both rock and pop audiences as well as traditional folk audiences, and its repertoire includes ballads, blues and jazz, often combined within the same piece.

Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle

In 1994 McShee forms a new group, Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle. The line-up changes over time, but the band continues to perform. The name also distinguishes it from the original Pentangle, which is listed alongside Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle as one of the associated acts.

Collaborations and recordings

In 1995 McShee appears as a session singer on Active in the Parish by singer-songwriter David Hughes, alongside her husband, drummer Gerry Conway. The album is voted Q magazine’s “Album of the Year”. In 1998 she works with Ulrich Maske on The Frog and the Mouse and The Cat and the Fiddle, two books made to help German children learn English. Her 2005 project Feoffees’ Lands is described as her third studio project after Passe Avant and About Thyme, and it includes traditional folk song arrangements, jazz standards and new compositions.