If you talk about the greatest singers of all time and miss out Norma Waterson, it’s like talking about guitars and missing out Jimi Hendrix. Her voice was a wondrous thing. She was also one of the loveliest people, all warmth, curiosity and kindness.
When I met her in late 2008, the experience hit me like a bullet train. I was making a Radio 4 series, The Ocean, which involved this mad road trip around the country interviewing folk musicians. Suddenly I was this tiny fly on the wall of the lives of this wonderful family who just happened to be one of English folk’s greatest singing groups, with Norma, the big sister, although she was quite little, in the middle. She had the Brown Betty teapot out and homemade scones and was straight away telling me that she’d seen me and Shirley Bassey on TV the night before and she liked it, to get me comfortable. Later she was wagging her finger at me for going outside and having ciggies. I was meant to be there for an hour but left after dark. I ended up sitting on the floor listening to her stories.
