The Watersons stood among England’s foremost family ensembles in traditional song. Their first recordings helped spark the 1960s resurgence of British folk music. Folklorist A.L. Lloyd described the group’s “hand-crafted harmonies, an immediately recognizable and uniquely distinctive group sound which is uninhibited, spontaneous seeming, and rich in texture,” and www.singers.com highlighted their command of “stark melodic scales, stunning polyphonic harmonies, and outstanding song selection.”
Norma Waterson (born August 15, 1939), her sister Elaine “Lal” Waterson (born February 15, 1943; died September 4, 1998), brother Mike Waterson (born January 6, 1941; died June 22, 2011), and second cousin John Harrison formed the core lineup. Raised in Hull, East Yorkshire, after losing their parents young, the siblings grew up under the care of their Irish/Gypsy grandmother, whose informal singing shaped their style. In Hull they ran the folk club Folk Union One, which became the setting for their initial local following.
Performing first as the Mariners and later as the Folksons, the family adopted its surname ahead of the 1965 debut Frost and Fire, which Melody Maker selected as Best Folk Album of that year. Also in 1965, Derrick Knight produced the BBC film Travelling for a Living featuring the group. The original quartet followed with The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland before Harrison relocated to London in 1966; the ensemble dissolved two years afterward. Norma subsequently presented a radio program in the West Indies, while Lal joined an extended household on a Yorkshire Moors folk commune.
Although their earliest work centered on traditional British material, the Watersons explored broader territory after regrouping in the early 1970s. Harrison’s place was taken first by Bernie Vickers and then by Martin Carthy, who wed Norma Waterson in 1972. The reunion album Bright Phoebus featured original compositions from Lal and Mike alongside electric support from Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Tim Hart, and Maddy Prior. Despite separate projects—the sisters’ duo album A True Hearted Girl and Mike’s self-titled solo release in 1977—the family continued joint recording and touring, issuing For Pence and Spicy Ale, Sound, Sound Your Instrument of Joy, and Green Fields before Lal and Mike stepped away from live performance in 1981.
Lal Waterson reentered music in the mid-1990s, collaborating with her son, guitarist and engineer Oliver Knight, on Once in a Blue Moon and A Bed of Roses. She died of cancer on September 4, 1998, ten days after diagnosis. In 1994 Norma and Martin Carthy formed Waterson:Carthy with their daughter, fiddler and vocalist Eliza. Mike Waterson succumbed to cancer on June 22, 2011, aged 70; Norma Waterson followed on January 30, 2022, at 82.
