Isla Cameron (c. 1930 - 1980) was a Scottish singer and actress. She was, f… Read Full Bio ↴Isla Cameron (c. 1930 - 1980) was a Scottish singer and actress. She was, for much of the 1950s, a singing partner of Ewan MacColl. In her time she was one of Britain's most popular woman folk singers, performing regularly in clubs throughout the British Isles. Her pioneering work in the 1950s paved the way for such figures as Sandy Denny and opened English folk music to a wider audience than it had been perceived as having.

Isla Cameron was born in Scotland but was brought up in Dorset and Somerset. While trying to become an actress she joined Joan Littlewood who had co-founded the Theatre Workshop in 1945. Joan’s husband at the time, Ewan MacColl was to become Isla’s singing partner for much of the 50s.

During 1953-4, Peter Kennedy produced a series of Sunday morning BBC radio programs called “As I Roved Out”. Two of these were later issued on the Folktrax label, with Isla singing three folk songs, Seamus Ennis playing uilliann pipes and tin whistle, Ewan MacColl singing some songs and Bob & Ron Copper also singing.

In 1956 Isla Cameron appeared in another radio program “Ballads and Blues: Sea Music”. In 1960 “The Singers Club” opened in “The Princess Louise” pub in Holborn, London. It was run by Ewan MacColl and his new wife Peggy Seeger. Isla Cameron became a resident at this folk club, but by this point her film career had taken off. She acted in a number of movies, with her biggest acting role being in the 1969 version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie where she could use her Scottish accent to advantage.

She continued singing and recording during the 1960s. In 1962, Isla Cameron and Tony Britton recorded “Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living”. In 1963, Peter Kennedy recorded Isla singing with accompaniment by Jack Armstrong on Northumbrian pipes. She sang songs by Bob Dylan and Bertolt Brecht but rarely sang after 1966, when acting took over her life.

She died in an accident in her home in 1980.

The Cherry Tree Carol
Isla Cameron Lyrics

We have lyrics for 'The Cherry Tree Carol' by these artists:

choir of king's college cambridge & philip ledger Joseph was an old man and an old man was…
Feliciano José When Joseph was an old man, An old man was…
Joan Baez When Joseph was an old man, an old man was…
José Feliciano When Joseph was an old man, An old man was…
New York Choral Society; Peter Paul and Mary When Joseph was an old man, an old man was…
Pentangle Joseph and Mary walked through an orchard green They saw be…
Peter Paul & Mary When Joseph was an old man, an old man was…
The Pentangle Joseph and Mary walked through an orchard green They saw be…

We have lyrics for these tracks by Isla Cameron:

Bushes and Briars Through bushes and through briars I've lately made my way Al…
Let No Man Steal Your Thyme Come all you fair and tender girls That flourish in your…
The Fireman's Not For Me Come all you young maidens take warning by me Shun all…

The Water Is Wide We lay my love And I Beneath the weeping willow But now alon…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

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