Leon Rosselson

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Leon Rosselson (b. 1934) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was. He toured Britain and abroad, singing mainly his own songs and accompanying himself with complex arrangements for acoustic guitar.

In later years, he has published 17 children's books, the first of which, Rosa's Singing Grandfather, was shortlisted in 1991 for the Carnegie Medal.

He continues to write and perform his own songs, and to collaborate with other musicians and performers. Most of his material includes some sort of satirical content or elements of radical politics.

...more on en.wikipedia

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In the early days of the folk revival, he was a member of the Galliards with whom he made numerous radio and TV broadcasts and concert appearances. He started writing songs seriously (and humorously) in the early 1960s and hasn't stopped yet. His early songs were topical-satirical (some of them were featured on TV's satire show That Was The Week That Was) but he broadened out from there, absorbing different influences, from Music Hall to French Realist Song, and experimenting with different song forms.

He has performed in every conceivable venue around the country and toured North America, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. He has written songs and scripts for Inter-Action's Dogg's Troupe and the Fun Art Bus, songs for a stage production at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and shows for performance with Roy Bailey and Frankie Armstrong, including the anti-nuclear No Cause for Alarm.

His song The World Turned Upside Down has been recorded and popularised by, amongst others, Dick Gaughan and Billy Bragg (who took it into the pop charts in 1985) and has been sung on numerous demonstrations in Britain and the USA. His Ballad of a Spycatcher, ridiculing the ban on Peter Wright's book, went into the Indie Singles charts in 1987 in a version backed by Billy Bragg and the Oyster Band.

In addition to writing songs for children and giving children's concerts in both Britain and the USA, he has had 17 children's books published. His first book, 'Rosa's Singing Grandfather' published by Puffin, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 1991. The latest books are 'Pumpkin's Downfall', HarperCollins, published in 2000 and 'Home Is A Place Called Nowhere', published by Oxford University Press in December 2002. A stage show based on his children's story 'The Greatest Drummer In The World' was premiered at the Drill Hall, London, in December 2002 with Elizabeth Mansfield and Anna Mudeka and toured the country from mid-February to the end of April 2004.

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For more information and bookings write to:
28 Park Chase, Wembley Park, Middlesex HA9 8EH
Phone: 0208-902 0655 or Fax 0208-902 3829.
Or email leonrosselson@mac.com

To obtain CDs, cassettes, books in the U.S.A. contact
THE ROSSELSONG SOCIETY,
c/o Janet Chayes,
191 Mathews Rd.,
Conway, MA 01341.
Phone: 413-369-0312 or email Janet@Chayes.org