Hall, Cliff

▪ 2009

Clifford Samuel Hall 

      Jamaican musician

born Sept. 11, 1925, Oriente province, Cuba

died June 26, 2008, Adelaide, Australia

sang lead vocals and played harmonica and guitar with the internationally renowned Liverpool-based folk band the Spinners, one of the first multiracial groups in British pop music. Following a recruitment drive in Jamaica, Hall moved (1942) to England to join the military. After World War II he worked in Liverpool, where he met (1953) Tony Davis, and in 1958, together with Mick Groves and Hughie Jones, they formed the Spinners and established the Folk Club, a Liverpool music venue the quartet ran for some 25 years. The first of their 40 albums, Quayside Songs Old and New (1962), featured the group's mix of traditional folk music, West Indian songs, and original compositions. Some of their most popular tunes, including “Matty Rag,” “Woman Sweeter than Man,” and “Liverpool Girls,” featured Hall's low, soothing voice. At the peak of their popularity, in the 1960s and '70s, the group starred on British radio and television. The Spinners broke up in 1988, but they held several reunion concerts.

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