{"id":6850,"date":"2025-02-07T13:23:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T13:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2025-02-07T13:23:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T13:23:30","slug":"issue-160-shirley-kent-the-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=6850","title":{"rendered":"Issue #160 – Shirley Kent \/ The Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"

In issue #160 (buy here<\/a>) Brum music expert SHAUN HAND tracked town Shirley Kent to talk with her about her days a a folk singer and in the psych\/prog band THE GHOST.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this extract the music historian discovers how the folky went rock<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In late 1969, Shirley [Kent] went along to hear The Holy Ghost rehearse at The Arts Lab in Aston. \u201cWhile we were there, Gordon [Henderson, her then partner] suggested I joined the band,\u201d she explained. Everyone was a little taken aback. This was a long-haired underground band with a provocative name. For all her eclectic tastes, Shirley was from another, far more demure musical world. However, she loved the sound of the band and got up and sang two songs with them… \u201c[We] instinctively<\/p>\n

harmonised\u2026 The rest is history.\u201d She was in. So too was her fianc\u00e9, whom the band insisted become their manager.<\/p>\n

Musically, teaming up with Shirley made sense for The Ghost \u2013 who dropped the \u201cHoly\u201d at their new manager\u2019s suggestion. One of the dominant influences on Birmingham\u2019s increasingly heavy guitar bands had been American West Coast rock. The folk scene Shirley had worked on had also been evolving. By alternating male and female vocals in a Jefferson Airplane\/Fairport Convention style (as well as Shirley, both Eastment and keyboardist Terry Guy were excellent singers), The Ghost could both fit in and stand out.<\/p>\n