Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as a co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson. Their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King is considered one of the first and most influential progressive rock albums ever released.[1]
Sinfield's lyrics are known for their surreal imagery, often involving common fantasy concepts, nature, or the sea. They often also deal with emotional concepts and, sometimes, storyline concepts. Later in his career, he adapted his songwriting to better suit pop music, and wrote a number of successful songs for artists such as Celine Dion, Cher, Cliff Richard, Leo Sayer, Five Star, and Bucks Fizz.
In 2005, Sinfield was referred to as a "prog rock hero" in Q magazine for his lyrical work and influence in the music industry.[2]
Early life
Sinfield was born at Fulham, London, to mixed English-Irish ancestry and a bohemian activist mother Deidre (also known as Joey or Daphne).[3] He seldom had contact with his father Ian. Up until the age of eight, he was raised largely by his mother's German housekeeper Maria Wallenda, a high wire walker from the circus act the Flying Wallendas, after which he was sent to Danes Hill School in Oxshott.[4] It was there that Sinfield discovered a love of words and their uses and meanings, with the guidance of his tutor John Mawson. He came to devour books of all kinds, especially poetry. He later attended Ranelagh Grammar School in Bracknell, Berkshire. He left school at sixteen and worked briefly as a travel agent,[5] believing that this would "allow him to see the world".
Sinfield then went on to work for a computer company for six years, travelling around Europe when he could and hanging around with friends from the Chelsea School of Art. To compete with his art school friends, Sinfield began learning to play the guitar,[5] and write poetry in the mid 1960s, and made a living on market stalls selling handmade kites, lampshades, paintings and customised clothing. He spent a number of years drifting around Morocco and Spain before returning to England. Sometime in 1967, he formed The Creation, a band he said he envisioned as a cross between Donovan and The Who.[6] One of the members, Ian McDonald, convinced Sinfield to switch from singer/guitarist to lyricist.[6]
King Crimson
In 1968, Ian McDonald joined Giles, Giles and Fripp, a progressive pop trio consisting of Michael Giles, Peter Giles, and Robert Fripp, who were looking to do more with music than their three-man line-up could manage. McDonald let the others know that he was already working with someone who could write lyrics. In their primordial form, Giles, Giles & Fripp, augmented by McDonald and ex-Fairport Convention vocalist Judy Dyble, recorded an early version of the McDonald-Sinfield song "I Talk to the Wind", which later became part of King Crimson's repertoire.
Peter Giles left the group at about this time, to be replaced by Greg Lake, and Sinfield joined around the same time. In his own words, "I became their pet hippie, because I could tell them where to go to buy the funny clothes that they saw everyone wearing".[7] Sinfield also came up with the name King Crimson.[8] Sinfield loved working with the band and, in addition to writing the phantasmagorical lyrics that came to be part of King Crimson's trademark, he also ran the group's light-show at their concerts, and offered advice on artwork, album design, and other details of the band's releases. Sinfield's performance role in the band was limited to occasionally playing EMS VCS 3 synthesizer.[8]
Fripp became involved with other projects (most notably the Centipede orchestra), which left Sinfield with much of the responsibility for the final version and design of the album, including the uniquely ornate jacket. The relationship between Sinfield and Fripp became increasingly strained as the band progressed. On their fourth album, Islands, Sinfield began exploring new lyrical territory, with more sexual imagery juxtaposed with the languidly surreal title track. On 1 January 1972, following a tour of the United States, Fripp told Sinfield he could no longer work with him and asked him to leave the group.
ELP, PFM, and Still
In 1972, Sinfield, associated with E.G. Records, which represented King Crimson and Roxy Music, was producing Roxy Music's debut album and their hit single "Virginia Plain". It was during this time that he first decided to venture into recording a solo album. In 1973, he wrote English lyrics for the Italian group Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) and produced their first album for ELP's Manticore Records, titled 'Photos of Ghosts', as well as 'The World Became the World'
In 1973, Sinfield formed a band provisionally called A Bowl of Soup, featuring Phil Jump on keyboards, Richard Brunton on guitar, Allan "Min" Mennie on drums, Steve Dolan on bass, and Sinfield himself on vocals, guitar, and synthesizer. They were booked to record an album at Command Studios, which eventually became known as Still. Despite being initially credited to A Bowl of Soup, Still ended up being released as a Pete Sinfield solo album. It featured contributions from various former (Greg Lake, Mel Collins, Ian Wallace) and future (John Wetton) members of King Crimson.
During the production of Still, Sinfield was approached by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) for his lyricist skills. Greg Lake specifically sought his help with lyrics, leading Sinfield to say, "Greg called me. 'I need help with the lyrics.' And, boy, did he need help." Although Still was originally released on ELP's Manticore label in 1973, Sinfield soon found himself absorbed into Emerson, Lake & Palmer's world.
With his fear of performing live and the demands of writing for ELP, Sinfield put his solo career on hold and collaborated with Emerson, Lake & Palmer for the next few years.
During the early to mid-1970s, Sinfield resided with his first wife Stephanie in The Mill House, Surrey, which was generously loaned to him by ELP. Notably, his neighbor during this period was Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, with whom Sinfield collaborated on five songs for Brooker's debut solo album, 'No More Fear of Flying'. Concurrently, Sinfield released a book titled 'Under the Sky', containing a collection of his previous lyrics and poems, a title inspired by one of the tracks from his solo album 'Still'.
In 1975, 'I Believe in Father Christmas', a song co-written by Sinfield and Greg Lake, was released, marking another notable achievement during this period.
Ibiza years
After overestimating his wealth and underestimating his percentage of royalties from ELP, he moved to Ibiza to live as a tax exile, and enjoyed his first interruption from continual work in the music industry. There he met a circle of artists, actors, painters, and members of the Chelsea Arts Club such as Peter Unsworth and Barry Flanagan, and eventually parted from his first wife. During his time in Ibiza, Sinfield's break from songwriting allowed him to spend his time travelling, socialising, and reflecting, which he had been unable to do for the previous decade.
During the late 1970s, he continued to move in communities around Spain. In 1978, following the success of his previous lyrics for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Sinfield was asked by ELP to produce lyrics for their album Love Beach, now regarded by many (including Sinfield himself) to be the weakest of all ELP's albums.[9] In 1978 he also narrated Robert Sheckley's In a Land of Clear Colours, an audio sci-fi story released the following year on a limited edition of 1000 vinyl records. The backing music for the story was provided by Brian Eno, with whom Sinfield had previously worked while producing Roxy Music. By the time he returned to London in 1980, with his new Spanish wife (a model and runner-up for Miss Spain), he discovered that progressive rock music was no longer in demand, and that punk had emerged in the UK.
Sinfield also wrote the lyrics, in 1978–1980, for the English versions of Alla fiera dell'est (Highdown Fair) and La pulce d'acqua (Fables and Fantasies), by Italian singer-songwriter Angelo Branduardi and, in 1981–1983, for "It's Your Dream" (Nikka Costa), "My First Love", "I Believe in Fairy Tales", and "Trick or Treat" (Fairy Tales), by the American child singer Nikka Costa.
Pop years
Upon his return to London in 1980, his publisher introduced him to Andy Hill, a composer and fellow songwriter. He and Sinfield collaborated on such hits as "The Land of Make Believe" by Bucks Fizz,[10] which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart,[11] and became one of the biggest-selling hits of the decade. While re-educating himself to adapt to the pop music industry with the help of Hill, he returned to Spain, where he was already established in the communities within Ibiza and Barcelona, and as his career progressed, moved into a house in Majorca. At this time, he appeared on Spanish television programme Musical Express, where he was interviewed and performed a set with Boz Burrell, Tim Hinkley, Michael Giles, Bobby Tench, Mel Collins, and Gary Brooker.
In the United Kingdom, he continued to release hits with Hill, including "I Hear Talk" by Bucks Fizz and "Have You Ever Been in Love" by Leo Sayer (which they wrote with John Danter). He also co-wrote Five Star's "Rain or Shine" with Billy Livsey.[10] After divorcing his wife and leaving Majorca, he returned to the UK around 1990 to a flat in Holland Park and continued to write lyrics for popular music. In 1993, he re-released his solo album as Stillusion. In the same year, he and Hill released "Think Twice" by Celine Dion, which went on to become a massive hit and won an Ivor Novello Award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically". Sinfield and Hill had also won an Ivor Novello a decade previously for the Leo Sayer track, "Have You Ever Been in Love".
There had been rumours of a second solo album, and Sinfield worked on it for a couple of years with vibraphone player and programmer Poli Palmer, formerly of Family. It was always a challenging project, made more so by Sinfield's quadruple bypass operation in 2005. After a period of convalescence, Sinfield attempted to restart the project, but it failed to take off.
During this time Sinfield wrote an increasing number of haiku. After his appearance at the Genoa Poetry Festival at the Ducal Palace in June 2010, he has turned his creative energies more towards poetry.
Sinfield is still active as a writer and appeared in the 2009 BBC documentary Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements.
Sinfield had a fairly unusual and colourful upbringing, being an only child (bar his adopted brother, Dennis) of a bisexual mother who ran a hair salon and one of the first burger bars in London in the 1950s. He grew up in a bohemian household, and claims to have vivid memories of extravagant and wonderful Christmases, later inspiring the lyrics for his hit "I Believe in Father Christmas", which recalled a lost and naive faith in Father Christmas.[12] Sinfield claimed that A Poet's Notebook by Edith Sitwell[13] had an important influence on his writing, as well as the works of Arthur Rimbaud,[8]Paul Verlaine,[8]William Blake,[13]Kahlil Gibran, and [13]Shakespeare.[13]
Musically he was largely influenced by Bob Dylan and Donovan. Hearing Donovan's opening line of "Colours": "Yellow is the colour of my true love's hair"' was, Sinfield stated, the defining moment when he decided he had the desire and ability to start writing songs.[14]
Discography
Solo
Still (1973) – vocals, twelve-string guitar, synthesizer, production, cover design (re-released in 1993 as Stillusion)
Drivers Eyes (1999) - lyrics for "Let There Be Light"
References
^"Rocking the Classics". Ulike.net. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2014. In his 1997 book Rocking the Classics, critic/musicologist Edward Macan noted that In the Court of the Crimson King "may be the most influential progressive rock album ever released"
