Latest news with #I'mGonnaBeanEngineer
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Post your questions for folk music legend Peggy Seeger
After a long career which has established her as one of the most significant folk singers on both sides of the Atlantic, Peggy Seeger is about to celebrate her 90th birthday with a final tour and album – and will answer your questions. Born in New York to a musicologist father and a modernist composer, and with siblings including future folk legend Pete Seeger, she started out on piano at seven years old, eventually adding guitar, banjo, autoharp, dulcimer and concertina to her skillset. She has lived in the UK for more than 60 years after travelling to London in 1956 for a job offer to be a singer and banjoist with folk group the Ramblers, where she met her future husband and folk singer Ewan MacColl. The two started an affair and in 1957 MacColl wrote the song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for Seeger, performing it for her over a long distance phone call (it was later a No 1 hit in the US for Roberta Flack). Seeger often performed with MacColl by her side until his death in 1989. She then married singer Irene Pyper-Scott, after forming an intense connection – she later described herself as 'uncontrollably in love'. Seeger is also widely recognised as a feminist icon and an activist on issues from the environment to war and workers' rights. Her song I'm Gonna Be an Engineer became a feminist anthem thanks to scathing lyrics such as: 'She's smart – for a woman, I wonder how she got that way / You get no choice, you get no voice / Just stay mum, pretend you're dumb.' It's a remarkable career, and one that's coming to an end: her latest album Teleology, out now, is being billed as her last, and she is doing a 25-date farewell tour of the UK and Ireland from 14 May. Before she brings the curtain down, what would you like to know about her songwriting, her activism, her loves and losses, and the rest of her richly lived life? Post your questions in the comments before Wednesday 7 May, and her answers will be published on Friday 16 May.
Glasgow Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Peggy Seeger says she would love to live in Scotland
'I love Scotland so much, I would live in Scotland if it wasn't for the weather,' the 89-year-old told the Glasgow Times. 'I have loved Scotland since the very first time I went there in the summer of 1956. 'I decided to go on a motor scooter from London to the top of Scotland. I got as far as Aberdeen. 'I love Scotland's songs, the way the language shifts as you cross the border. I love everything but the weather, it's too cold," she added. (Image: Peggy Seeger) The I'm Gonna Be an Engineer hitmaker is set to return to Scotland next month to perform at Cottiers in the West End of Glasgow. The gig will take place on May 15. 'I'm looking forward to coming to Glasgow,' Peggy said, before adding: 'I can't even count the number of times I've been to the city. It'll be dozens by now.' READ NEXT: Former Eurovision contestant announces Glasgow show The show comes as part of Peggy's upcoming 90th Birthday Farewell Tour, which will follow the release of her new album, Teleology, set to come out on May 2. From being the muse behind her late husband Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which became a global hit for soul singer Roberta Flack, to having her songs become anthems of the women's movement, Seeger has played a very memorable part in music history throughout her 70-odd-year career. Having grown up in America, Peggy eventually gained British citizenship and, in 1977, married Dirty Old Town songwriter MacColl. They were married until his death in 1989 and had three children together. (Image: Ewan MacColl) Peggy and Ewan's sons, Neill and Calum MacColl, will be joining her on the road for the upcoming tour. Speaking on performing with her family, Peggy said: 'Going on the road with my sons is always such a pleasure.' (Image: Peggy with her sons (Image supplied)) The singer will be playing songs from the new album as well as reviving some old tunes. She added: 'I'm going to revive some songs from the past as well as some songs that my sons feel we really should do – which I absolutely agree with.' 'It's really special for me to be able to tour, especially to do it with my sons. I'm really grateful, but after 70 years touring it is time that I stopped now.' (Image: Peggy with her sons (Image supplied)) READ NEXT: Huge Scottish singer to perform at OVO Hydro in Glasgow Tickets for the Cottiers show can be purchased online by clicking HERE Alternatively, fans can book tickets by phoning the box office 0141 357 4000 or using WhatsApp on 07941 673 035.
