Robert Kirby
| Robert Kirby | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Robert Bruce Kirby |
| Born |
16 April 1948 Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire |
| Died | 3 October 2009 (aged 61) London United Kingdom |
| Genres | Folk rock, progressive rock |
| Occupation(s) | Arranger, musician |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1960s–2009 |
| Labels | A&M, Island |
| Associated acts | Nick Drake, Strawbs |
Robert Kirby (16 April 1948 – 3 October 2009) was a British-born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He was best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but also worked with Vashti Bunyan, Elton John, Ralph McTell, Strawbs, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello.
He was educated at Bishop's Stortford College an independent school in Hertfordshire, and then the University of Cambridge.
Patrick Humphries' book Way To Blue gives some details of Kirby's time at university.
He sang in a group called 'The Gentle Power of Song'. His tutor once told him that his compositions sounded like a breakfast cereal commercial. This was intended as an insult, but Kirby took this as his high praise: "As good as that, eh?" Kirby went to Caius College, Cambridge and made friends with Paul Wheeler. They were both members of the Caius Breakfast Club, also called "The Loungers". There were few rules. You had to have a Loungers' breakfast on Sundays, and 'stand by ye gate once a day and observe what strange creatures God hath made'. There was a rule that permitted an outsider (the 'Oddefellowe') to become a member. Robert and Paul were both friends with Nick Drake so they invited him to be the Oddefellowe. There is a line in Drake's song "Way To Blue" which seems to echo one of the rules of the Loungers:
"We will wait at your gate, hoping like the blind..."
Kirby recruited eight musicians (seven women and one man) to play alongside Nick Drake at the Caius May Ball. Kirby wore evening dress, and the seven women wore black ankle-length dresses with white feather boas. They performed in the library. Four of the songs were with the string orchestra and a couple of others were Drake solo. After every third song, they played classical music (Leopold Mozart and Tomaso Albinoni).
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Wikipedia