In the area of music in which Vin Garbutt performs, there is no bigger star! Vin Garbutt is the funniest and most serious man on the Folk Scene!" He was born in South Bank, Middlesbrough where he discovered Folk Music whilst he was still at school. At the age of 21, he threw caution to the winds and became a professional musician. Armed with the rich repertoire of songs he had amassed, he spent the first summer busking his way around the bars of Spain's Mediterranean coast, and on to Morocco via Gibraltar. It was then that he found he had a talent for songwriting.
In 1972 he recorded his first album The Valley Of Tees. This firmly established him as a singer and songwriter of fine socially conscious, and environmentally aware songs. Throughout the 70's Vin's reputation grew rapidly until he became "the most sought after performer on the Folk Scene".
His songwriting covers topics ranging from, exploitation of foreign workers, to unemployment, to oppression, to abortion, to abuse of agrochemicals, to sexual exploitation, to deforestation, to cosmetic surgery, to the genocide of Timorese people, to road building, to the North/South divide, to foetal experimentation, to industrial polution, to emigration, etc. etc. It is no surprise therefore to find that Vin has ruffled a few ethical/political feathers by his comprehensive range of subjects. His fellow professional musicians were filled with admiration at his gutsy stances - "he really sticks his neck out and occasionally gets it kicked in, but this doesn't stop him, I'm a big fan of his!" - Loudon Wainwright III.
The '90's saw an even bigger explosion of interest in Vin and his work. Trevor Burton of The Move fame saw him perform and handed a tape to Alan Whetton of Dexy's Midnight Runners. He went to see him perform and became an instant Garbutt 'nut', and demanded to produce his next two albums - When The Tide Turns and The Bypass Syndrome. Alan played the original tape to a number of 'Rock Names' who all volunteered to play on these albums including Robbie McIntosh of The Paul McCartney Band.
During 1999 Vin celebrated his 30th year as a professional performer with a world tour playing extensively in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Also in 1999 he released his Word Of Mouth CD, which as you can tell by the title, was a statement in itself.
In 2001 Vin was nominated for Folk Singer of the Year and also Best Live Act in the BBC 2 Folk Awards. Subsequently Vin was the winner of The Best Live Act! In 2002 Vin was further honoured by Teesside University when he received the Honorary Degree of Master of Arts. Vin was congratulated as "Teessides roving ambassador of folk music" for performing and writing songs for over 30 years, gaining inspiration from the people and culture of Teesside. He was thanked for his services to the arts and the area of the North East of England.
During 2001 Vin published the first collection of his songs. The Vin Garbutt SongBook. The collection spans his career from The Valley Of Tees written in 1971 to The Troubles Of Erin written in 1999. The book was very popular and inevitably Vins fans were soon asking Where is the CD which matches the book?. So shortly after, Vin issued The Vin Garbutt Songbook CD. This was Vins first ever complilation CD and was very well received. It is popular as a collection but also very popular as a sampler for people who are new to Vins music.
Vins career has continued to flourish and 2004 saw him take on another world tour. Unfortunately in 2005 Vin became seriously ill, subsequently he had to take 6 months off work. Thankfully he soon made a full recovery and got back on the road! An advantage of Vins recuperation period was that he was able to work on his long awaited new album PersonaGrata which was launched at The Sage, Gateshead on October 6th 2005. Vin continues to perform to sold out shows all over the world!
