Biography
British-born singer and songwriter Colin Wilkie, together with his wife Shirley Hart on guitar and vocals, first brought the 1960s folk revival to Germany. Wilkie, who has written hundreds of songs and stories, worked for eleven years as resident songwriter on the SWF program Tellekolleg and spent seven years hosting his own weekly radio broadcast. He transmitted his distinctive fingerstyle guitar technique to the influential German guitarist Franz Josef Degenhardt. Wilkie’s compositions, which touch on family, friends, politics, and ecology, reveal only a glimpse of the warm and intimate presence he projects onstage. His output as a recording artist has been remarkably steady, resulting in more than thirty albums. Among them are the 1970 release Sunflower Seed, made with Hart, bassist Eberhard Weber, and pianist Milcho Leviev; the 1972 album Morning and the 1974 album Outside the City, later paired by the Pläne label for a 2006 compilation; 1980’s Echoes of Old Love Songs; and 1996’s Empty Chairs. Wilkie and Hart’s debut recording, issued in 1965, featured Scottish folksinger Alex Campbell. The couple also found an outlet in musical theater, appearing as street singers in John Arden’s Life and Death at the Württemberg National Theater in Stuttgart, where their contribution helped the production run successfully for several seasons. Numerous performers have recorded Wilkie’s material, among them the McCalmans, Werner Lämmerhirt, and Peter Ratzenbeck. In 1996 the German singer-songwriters Hannes Wader, Lämmerhirt, and Degenhardt released the album I Wish I’d Written That Song: A Tribute to Colin Wilkie, consisting entirely of their interpretations of his songs.
Albums
