Danny Spooner's passion was the expression of British and Australian culture through folk music. Born into a working-class family in the East End of London prior to World War Two, Danny Spooner grew up with the traditions, music and folklore of a typical Cockney family (singing round the piano, music hall, traditional English & Irish songs). At 13 he left school and worked on a sailing barge which plied the Thames and the south coast of England. Under the instructive eye of Bob Roberts, Danny learned British songs and was enrolled in libraries along the coast to read their stories. He was apprenticed to the Thames as a Waterman and Lighterman, and after 6 years had earned his Freeman of the Thames.
Over the next 10 years he held various jobs including salvage tug and trawler skipper. This varied, almost nomadic life had given Danny an all-too-rare real-life education in the ways of working people. When Danny arrived in Australia in 1962, he realised that there was an audience ready, interested, and willing to appreciate these sorts of songs. He heard Declan Affley singing in the early folk scene in Sydney, and at the fabled Frank Traynors in Melbourne was Martyn Wyndham-Read, Brian Mooney, David Lumsden, Trevor Lucas and Margret Roadknight. This was the engine room of the folk revival in Australia, and made Danny want to learn those songs. From Wendy Lowenstein and Gwenda Davey, he understood the importance of the social context of the songs and proper attribution.
Thanks to a prodigious memory and a willingness to learn about his craft, Danny Spooner quickly developed into one of the best singers of British folksongs in Australia. Over the years he had augmented what he learned "on the job" with a vast repertoire spanning almost every part of the British tradition - as well as a respectable portion of the Australian folk heritage. He was pleased to add American material learned from new friends - and even a Canadian French whaling song. Danny had performed in folk clubs all over Australia, New Zealand and in Britain on his visits home. He had appeared at every major folk festival in Australia, at which he had given a vast range of workshops on aspects of folk songs of Britain and Australia. Many of these presentations were recorded live by ABC national radio. His passion was getting people singing, and he inspired and encouraged many in developing their singing craft. Nothing gave him more pleasure at a festival than getting a good singing session going, "That's what folksong is about". Long described as "a living national treasure", Danny Spooner made traditional music seem new and make new songs seem old. Spooner died peacefully in Daylesford Hospital after a short illness in 2017.
ALBUMS
'A Wench, A Whale and a Pint of Good Ale' [with Martyn Wyndham-Read, Gordon McIntyre, Peter Dickie] 1966 Score'Soldiers and Sailors' [with Shayna Karlin, Gordon McIntyre, Mike Ball] 1968 Score
'Limbo' [with Mick Farrell] 1978 Anthology
'Danny Spooner And Friends' 1978 Anthology
'Revived and Relieved' [with Gordon McIntyre] 1979 Larrikin
'I Got This One From' 1986 Sandstock
'When A Man's In Love' 1987 Sandstock
'All Around Down Under' [with Martyn Wyndham-Read] 1988 Sandstock
'We'll Either Bend or Break 'Er' 1988 Sandstock
'Launch Out On The Deep' 2002
'Emerging Tradition' 2007
'Bold Reilly Gone Away' 2009
'Gorgeous,Game Girls' 2013
'Sailors Consolation' 2014
'Home' 2016
