Chris Leslie

Chris Leslie first encountered folk music during the early 1960s through the recordings of the Watersons and Martin Carthy. Though he explored numerous instruments and eventually achieved virtuoso command of most as his career advanced, the fiddle marked his initial breakthrough, both onstage and on the debut session he cut alongside his older brother John Leslie in 1976. Into the early 1980s he performed as half of a duo with Steve Ashley while also working as a session musician, after which he joined Whippersnapper as one of its four founding members alongside his former idol Dave Swarbrick. The group remained active until the early 1990s; following its dissolution, Leslie recorded with fellow member Kevin Dempsey. At the close of the decade he became a member of Fairport Convention. He has enjoyed notable accomplishments as a songwriter as well.