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Jackie Leven

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About Me


Born in 1950 into a Romany family, Jackie Leven spent his childhood and teenage years as an outsider in the clannish, Fife, Scotland. Although Scottish himself, neither of his parents were from the area - his father was an Irish Cockney, his mother was from a large Northumberland (Geordie) family.
Hopelessly wayward at school, with few friends, his attendance was woeful. But those truanting times spent alone in glens and by rivers, still form the basis of his songs' imagery to this day.
His mother, unusually for the time, was a lover of American black blues music, which strongly influenced him as a teen. Soon he was playing in local bands as well as playing his own blues songs in local folk clubs.
However, this brought him to the attention of local gangs, one in particular starting a baseless vendetta against him, and he was duly obliged to leave Scotland.
This precipitated years of rootless wandering and sleeping rough, including four months living in corners of the South Bank Centre, London, where he busked for a living. This was during the late sixties. He also lived variously in County Kerry, Ireland, Berlin and Madrid, where he had a record released, “Control” (1971) By John St Field (his stage name of the time) - now considered to be a psychedelic underground classic.
Living in squatted accommodation across the UK, Jackie began to encounter people with serious mental illness and psychic disorder.These experiences began to inform his songwriting. This can clearly be seen in the songs which make up the first two albums by his daunting rock band, Doll By Doll, whose other members - Joe Shaw, David MacIntosh and Robin Spreafico he met in this environment.
Doll By Doll (1978 - 1982), a controversial live act at odds with the cartoon violence of punk, made five critically acclaimed (or loathed) albums, before accepting they just weren't meant for those times, and regretfully going their separate ways.
In 1983, after a late night recording session for a solo album due for release by Charisma/Virgin, Jackie was the subject of an unprovoked street attack during which he was nearly strangled. Unable to speak or sing, he lost his record deal, friends and way, entering his own period of psychic disorder, taking heroin and living in isolation for nearly a year.
He re-joined the world in 1985 after a successful course of traditional Chinese five-element acupuncture and psychic healing, and co-founded The CORE trust - 'an holistic approach to addiction'. To this day the Trust operates a centre in London, working with people with all forms of addiction. Jackie has been their manager, chair of trustees, and is presently the patron.
Shortly after this Jackie went to live in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. He spent the nights in bars with fishermen and forester friends, and the days writing the songs that became the basis of his return to music with the acclaimed Cooking Vinyl release “The Mystery Of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery Of Death”.
A string of excellent albums have followed, and the latest, “Elegy For Johnny Cash” takes a unique and candid look at last journeys, and the people who make them.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/13/2006
Band Website: jackieleven.com
Sounds Like: a whole new category of music
Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

LIVE FROM A CORNISH PUB IN GERMANY  THE JACKIE LEVEN SMALL WORLD ORCHESTRA

'LIVE FROM A CORNISH PUB IN GERMANY'  THE JACKIE LEVEN SMALL WORLD ORCHESTRA ..:Jackie Leven  vocals, guitar Michael Cosgrave  vocals, keyboards, trumpet Kevin Foster  vocals, bass Mikailis  voca...
Posted by Jackie Leven on Sun, 25 May 2008 11:18:00 PST

The Deep PoolMay 2008

I've discovered a wooden bench by a dusty crossroads in the country some fields away from where I live. It's always been there, but for some reason I just haven't noticed it before. The crossroads is ...
Posted by Jackie Leven on Sun, 25 May 2008 11:12:00 PST

THE GALLAGHER

 ONE OF THE WORLD'S TRULY GREAT GUITARS    I'm looking for a loving home for my old dreadnought style acoustic guitar  the Gallagher (see pictures). When I say old, the guitar is aroun...
Posted by Jackie Leven on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:48:00 PST

The Deep Pool April 2008

THE DEEP POOL/APRIL 2008-04-09      Four in the morning, walking quietly from the bathroom back to my bedroom, I looked down to where Basil (white terrier) and Ronnie (brown terrier) la...
Posted by Jackie Leven on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:27:00 PST

The Deep Pool(mar2008)

 2am in the morning, early March, western Norway, I entered the front room of Lars’ fisherman’s cottage on the shore of Hardanger fjord. Lars gestured me towards a particular chair, t...
Posted by Jackie Leven on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:15:00 PST