Fairport Convention members: Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Dave Pegg, Dave Swarbrick, Judy Dyble, Simon Nicol, Iain Matthews, Ashley Hutchings, Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Ric Sanders, Dan Ar Braz, Maartin Allcock, Bruce Rowland, Chris Le

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 34. Chapters: Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Dave Pegg, Dave Swarbrick, Judy Dyble, Simon Nicol, Iain Matthews, Ashley Hutchings, Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Ric Sanders, Dan Ar Braz, Maartin Allcock, Bruce Rowland, Chris Leslie, Gerry Conway, Martin Lamble. Excerpt: Richard John Thompson OBE (born 3 April 1949, Notting Hill, London) is a British songwriter, guitarist and recording and performing musician. Highly regarded for his guitar techniques, Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson award for best acoustic guitar player in 1991. Similarly, his songwriting has earned him an Ivor Novello Award and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio. Artists who have recorded Thompson's compositions include such diverse talents as Robert Plant, Del McCoury, R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, Christy Moore, David Gilmour, Mary Black, Elvis Costello, The Corrs, Sandy Denny, June Tabor, Joel Fafard, Maria McKee, Shawn Colvin, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Nanci Griffith, Maura O'Connell, Los Lobos, John Doe, Greg Brown, Bob Mould, Barbara Manning, Loudon Wainwright III, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Richard Thompson made his debut as a recording artist as a member of Fairport Convention in September 1967. He continues to write and record new material and performs live frequently throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music. On 5 July 2011, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa was conferred on Richard Thompson by the University of Aberdeen, in a ceremony at the University's Elphinstone Hall. Richard John Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London, England. His father, a Scot, was by profession a Scotland Yard detective, and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. Whilst still attending William Ellis School in Highgate, he formed his first band "Emil and the Detectives" (named after a book and a movie by the same name) with classmate Hugh Cornwell, later lead singer and guitarist of The Stranglers, on bass guitar. Although, like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embraced rock and roll music