Owen Hand

Owen Hand was born in December the 28th, 1934, in Edinburgh. He left the school at the age of 13, after his mother's death, to work down the mines. Learning to play the guitar while in the Army, Hand made his stage debut in 1962 on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He then formed The Three City Four with Leon Rosselson, Ralph Trainer and Marian McKenzie before opting to go solo (he was replaced in the group by Martin Carthy) in mid-1964. Moving down to London, he played at clubs like Les Cousins alongside another Edinburgh émigré, Bert Jansch, also recording a couple of fine songs in his first album Something New in 1965, such as the timeless reprise of Cyril Tawney's "Sally Free And Easy". The release in 1966 of I Loved A Lass coincided with the break-up of Hand's first marriage, and he disappeared to Israel for 6 months, living in a kibbutz with the woman who was to become his second wife in 1968. When they returned to Scotland, Hand turned his back on the Folk scene to run a bric-a-brac shop. He died in February 2003. He was survived by Denise born from his first wedding with Myra Holland, and his 2 sons Seth and Ojay he got with Ruth Dunlop.