Karl Dallas

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Karl Dallas
Born Karl Frederick Dallas
(1931-01-29) 29 January 1931 (age 93)
London, England
Residence Bradford, West Yorkshire
Nationality British
Occupation Journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer, broadcaster
Website www.karldallas.com

Karl Frederick Dallas (born 29 January 1931)[1] is a British journalist, musician, author, playwright, peace campaigner, record producer and broadcaster. He has been described as "the most vigorous, influential, and informed folk music journalist in Britain".[2]

Biography

Early life

He 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.[3] He lived as a child in Whitley Bay, Northumberland,[4] and later attended Bec School in Tooting, London.[5] He started writing poetry, and writing and performing songs in London in his teens, using the name Fred Dallas.[2] His songs have been recorded by The Spinners, Ewan MacColl, June Tabor and others.[5] He also contributed music reviews to the St Marylebone Record and Musical Opinion magazine.[6]

Middle life

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.[5] 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,[7] and in 1967 wrote his first book, Swinging London: a guide to where the action is.[8] His other books have included Singers of an Empty Day: last sacraments for the superstars (1972), The Cruel Wars: 100 soldiers' songs from Agincourt to Ulster (1972), 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.[5] Since the late 1970s he has also written on information technology, and has contributed articles to most British computer magazines.[9]

Later life

He was a lifelong atheist until converting to Christianity in 1983.[3] He moved with his wife to live in Bradford in 1989,[5] and retired from full-time journalism in 1999. In 2003, he travelled to Iraq in a double-decker bus as part of the group of campaigners intending to act as human shields in the event of invasion.[10][11] Following his return, he wrote Into the War Zone, which he described as a "musical tragicomedy" satirising his experiences as a human shield in Iraq. The play was performed by the Writers Company in Bradford in 2005.[12] He has written several other plays, including a seven-hour play on the life of Stalin,[5] as well as several books, including The Fourth Step, described as "a thriller of the international drugs trade",[5] and Good News for the Last Times (2010), a "prophetic vision for the 21st century" based on his religious experiences.[13] A book of his critical writings, The Lie That Tells The Truth, was published in 2012.[14]

As of 2013, he continues to broadcast regularly for Bradford Community Broadcasting, and reviews books, music and films for the Morning Star daily newspaper.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Karl Dallas blog. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Colin Harper, Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Becky Barnicoat, Weekender: Karl Dallas, writer, 82, The Guardian, 27 April 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  4. ↑ Karl Dallas: Autobiography at Rockopedia. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 About the author, The Fourth Step. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  6. ↑ Preface to The Lie That Tells The Truth. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  7. ↑ Karl Dallas at Rock's Back Pages. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  8. ↑ Swinging London at Worldcat.org. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Karl Dallas at Journalist Directory Freelance Database. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  10. ↑ BBC News, Pensioner's 'human shield' offer, 24 January 2003. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  11. ↑ BBC News, Pensioner to become Iraq human shield, 17 February 2003. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  12. ↑ BBC Bradford and West Yorkshire, Karl Dallas: "We must love one another", August 2005. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  13. ↑ Good News for the Last Times at Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2013
  14. ↑ The Lie That Tells The Truth at Reality Now!. Retrieved 2 July 2013

External links

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