Frankie Armstrong (born January 13, 1941 in Workington, Cumbria, England) is a singer and voice teacher. She began singing during the United Kingdom folk revival of the early 1960s, initially with the Ceilidh Singers , a skiffle group. In 1965, Armstrong sang at the Edinburgh Festival "Poets In Public", with John Betjeman, Stevie Smith and Ted Hughes. She first recorded with A.L.'Bert' Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and the Critics Group during the mid-60s. In the mid-1970s Armstrong pioneered workshops based on traditional styles of singing. She worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement, and she was a trainer in social and youth work. Involved with folk and political songs starting in the 1950s, she has also recorded with, amongst others, the Mike Westbrook Band, Henry Cow, Talisker, John Kirkpatrick, Brian Pearson , Leon Rosselson and Maddy Prior.

Together with her partner Darien Pritchard (a teacher of Feldenkrais flexibility and massage), she runs an annual Voice Training and Resources week.

Available recordings

• 'The Garden of Love', (Fellside Records[1] FECD 144)
• 'Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn' (Traditional Ballads), (FECD 116).
• 'Lovely on the Water', a reissue of Frankie's first solo LP, with extra tracks from the 1960s & 1970s (FECD 151).
• 'The Fair Moon Rejoices' (with Cardiff musicians ­ HARCD 027)
• 'Ways of Seeing' (solo, duo and group apace women's voices ­ HARCD 009).
• 'I Heard a Woman Singing', a reissue by Rounder Records, USA (CD FF 332) of an early 80s LP of Frankie's, is distributed in Britain by Topic Records.
• Topic reissue 'Bird in the Bush: ­ An amourous and erotic song collection' with other singers (TSCD 479)

Books

• Autobiography 'As Far as The Eye Can Sing', edited by Jenny Pearson, published by Women's Press in 1992 (ISBN 0 7043 4294 4)
• 'Well Tuned Women:­ Growing Strong through Voice Work', co-edited with Jenny Pearson, containing essays from leading international women voice trainers and artists, is also published by Women's Press (ISBN 0 7043 4649 4).

External links

• Web site