Karl Dallas
| Karl Dallas | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Karl Frederick Dallas 29 January 1931 London, England |
| Died | 21 June 2016 (aged 85) Bradford, West Yorkshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer, broadcaster |
| Website | www |
Karl Frederick Dallas (29 January 1931 – 21 June 2016) was a British journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer, and broadcaster. He was described as "the most vigorous, influential, and informed folk music journalist in Britain".
Dallas was brought up in a socialist household, was enrolled in the Independent Labour Party on the day of his birth, and was named after Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He lived as a child in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, and later attended Bec School in Tooting, London. He started writing poetry, and writing and performing songs in London in his teens, using the name Fred Dallas. His songs have been recorded by The Spinners (The Family of Man, written in 1955, after Dallas saw the exhibition of the same name), Ewan MacColl, June Tabor and others. He also contributed music reviews to the St Marylebone Record and Musical Opinion magazine.
In 1957 Dallas began working as a full-time reporter, later becoming a freelance writer on music – including pop, jazz, classical and folk music – and fashion. Many of his articles were published in the Melody Maker; he also wrote for The Times, The Independent, and many magazines. He published his own magazines, including Folk Music, Folk News, and Jazz Music News, and in 1967 wrote his first book, Swinging London: a guide to where the action is. His other books included Singers of an Empty Day: last sacraments for the superstars (1972), The Cruel Wars: 100 soldiers' songs from Agincourt to Ulster (1972), One Hundred Songs of Toil: 450 Years of Workers' Songs (1974) and The Electric Muse: The Story of Folk into Rock (with Dave Laing, Robin Denselow and Robert Shelton, 1975). For a time he ran his own public relations agency, with clients including Pan Books, Topic Records, and Billy Smart's Circus. He worked as a record producer for the Transatlantic, Island and Sonet labels, and as a concert promoter. From the late 1970s he also wrote on information technology, and contributed articles to most British computer magazines.
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