Vale - Alistair Hulett

15 October 1951 – 28 January 2010

Alistair Hulett, Scots-born singer, songwriter, political activist, humanitarian, socialist, and all-round good guy.

Alistair, who has been living back in hometown of Glasgow for several years with his wife, fell ill on New Years Day, was hospitalised 3 days later with suspected food poisoning, which proved incorrect – inoperable cancer was the cause, and 3 weeks later he was gone.

A great shock to all of us that knew him, as we had seen him over here just 14 months ago, performing at the Folk Club with David Rovics.

Alistair had moved here to Christchurch as a young teenager, with his parents and sister Alison, and became a regular performer at the Folk Club. He was just 15, with curly blond hair and cherubic face, when he first wowed the crowd with his stunning voice, and repertoire of traditional British ballads. He sang and played with many of the club performers of the day, carving out a fine reputation, formed an a cappella group called "Croodin Cant" along with sister Alison, and other members including Bernie Cherry, Chrissie Cherry, and Andrew Forrer, to name a few.

Alistair took himself off for several years, going to Nepal, and Australia, where he lived for some time and became the singer for the seminal band "Roaring Jack" (who were very much in the style of The Pogues, but true originals,) and his strong political and social conscience started to become very obvious in his music.

He returned eventually to Scotland, and played with many luminaries, (including a 2 year stint with fiddler Dave Swarbrick,) and developed a fine reputation as a truly dedicated and committed performer with a strong sense of social justice, and a champion of the underdog - and continued to write and record many memorable songs and albums – too many to detail here.

He remained in contact with many of his old friends from Christchurch, and I know he will be greatly missed by us all. But on a wider scale, his passing is a loss to the music world as well as the causes he was so passionate about.

Libby Stuart

(for more detailed obituary, go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/09/alistair-hulett-obituary

For members of Facebook, there is a tribute page – "Alistair Hulett- Tribute"