Ewan MacColl

James Henry Miller , better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was an English folk singer, songwriter, communist, labour activist, actor, poet, playwright and record producer. He was married three times to theatre director Joan Littlewood to Jean Newlove, with whom he had two children, including the singersongwriter Kirsty MacColl and to American folksinger Peggy Seeger, with whom he had three children, Kitty, Calum and Neill. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre, and with Seeger in folk music.

MacColl was born as James Henry Miller atAndrew Street, in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, to Scottish parents, William Miller and Betsy , both socialists. William Miller was an iron moulder and militant trade unionist who had moved to Salford with his wife, a charwoman, to look for work after being blacklisted in almost every foundry in Scotland. James Miller was the youngest and only surviving child in the family of three sons and one daughter . They lived amongst a group of Scots and Jimmy was brought up in an atmosphere of fierce political debate interspersed with the large repertoire of songs and stories his parents had brought from Scotland. He was educated at Grecian Street School in Broughton. He left school in 1930 after an elementary education, during the Great Depression and, joining the ranks of the unemployed, began a lifelong programme of selfeducation whilst keeping warm in the Manchester Public Library. During this period he found intermittent work in a number of job

Source: Wikipedia