After decades of silence, Collins was coaxed back into the studio by friends and fellow musicians like David Tibet of Current 93.
The life of Shirley Collins is often described as a tragic and triumphant ballad itself, marked by a legendary song-collecting journey, a devastating medical condition that silenced her for decades, and a late-life return to the stage . The Ballad of Shirley Collins
Born in Hastings, East Sussex, in 1935, Shirley Collins grew up in a family deeply rooted in traditional English song. In 1954, she met famed American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in London and eventually became his lover and research assistant. After decades of silence, Collins was coaxed back