Multi-instrumentalist who founded folk revival leaders Steeleye Span
Tim Hart, a founder member of the folk revival outfit Steeleye Span, died on Christmas Eve, 2009, aged 61.
He was born in Lincolnshire but died in La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands where he had lived since retiring from the music business.
Hart was a star of the 1960s folk scene in Britain, first gaining fame in a musical partnership with singer Maddy Prior in 1966.
The duo recorded two albums of traditional English folk songs with the versatile Hart backing their singing on guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, banjo and violin.
In 1971, Hart and Prior joined with Ashley Hutchings, who had left Fairport Convention, to form a new band.
The new project, at Hart's suggestion, was named Steeleye Span after a character in a Lincolnshire folk song, Horkstow Grange.
Steeleye Span went on to have chart hits with the Latin carol Gaudete, recorded a cappella in 1972, and nineteenth century song All Around My Hat which went into the top five in 1975.
Hart left Steeleye Span in 1983, but appeared at a charity concert with the group in 1995. His other work included two albums of nursery rhymes released in 1981 and being the unlikely producer of The Monochrome Set’s post-punk album Eligible Bachelors.
