Jo Freya is an English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer from the United Kingdom. Born Jo Fraser in 1960, she changes her professional name to Jo Freya as a condition of joining Equity, the actors’ union, which does not allow two members to share the same name.

Career

Freya performs mainly folk music and world music. She plays soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinets and traditional whistles, and appears with a number of groups and collaborators across the folk scene.

She is part of Blowzabella, Old Swan Band and Token Women, and also works with Lal Waterson and Pete Morton. She performs in a nameless supergroup with Coope, Boyes & Simpson, Fi Fraser and Georgina Boyes. Her European group Freyja issues two CDs, and she is a member of the Fraser Sisters and No Masters Co-operative.

Solo work and recordings

Freya releases several solo albums, including Traditional Songs of England (1993), Lush (1996), Tea With The Queen (1998), As The Last Night Drains (2003), Lal (a tribute to Lal Waterson’s music, 2007) and Female Smuggler (2008). Her compilation and collaboration work includes Migrating Bird - The Songs of Lal Waterson (2007).

Other roles

She serves as Artistic Director of the Nation Youth Folk Ensemble from 2023 to 2026.