Julie Driscoll

Born in London on June 8, 1947, Julie Driscoll began as a sixties pop diva before evolving into an avant jazz vocalist. During her teenage years she managed the Yardbirds' fan club, and Giorgio Gomelsky, the band's manager and producer, urged her toward a career on stage. Her first pop single, "Take Me by the Hand," appeared in 1963; two years afterward she joined the brief R&B group Steampacket, which also featured Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry and organist Brian Auger. Once Steampacket disbanded, she became a member of the Brian Auger Trinity and reached the UK Top Five in 1968 with their version of Bob Dylan's "This Wheel's on Fire." British journalists labeled her "The Face," and her striking looks combined with coolly sophisticated vocals brought her brief but intense popularity, prompting her departure from Auger in pursuit of solo work. The 1969 self-titled debut album marked a decisive turn toward progressive jazz, drawing on musicians from Soft Machine and Blossom Toes. Pianist Keith Tippett also appeared on the record, and Driscoll soon entered his experimental groups Centipede and Ovary Lodge. She married Tippett, adopted the surname Tippetts, and recorded under Julie Tippetts. On the 1974 solo album Sunset Glow she deepened her exploration of improvisational vocal methods across styles from folk to free jazz. In 1976 Tippetts formed the experimental vocal quartet Voice alongside Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton and Brian Ely; two years later she and Nicols issued the duo album Sweet and s'Ours. She and Keith later released Couple in Spirit, followed in 1991 by her participation in the Mujician/Georgian Ensemble, which united more than a dozen players from Britain and the former Soviet Georgia. The next year she re-recorded "This Wheel's on Fire" as the theme for the hit BBC series Absolutely Fabulous.