Giant of a Man

Danny Spooner was an archetypal troubadour singing a rich variety of songs from the folk traditions of the British Isles, North America and Australia; travelling the world sharing these songs together with anecdotes illuminating the social history behind them. He sang with rare warmth, winning the hearts and imaginations of his audience with his humour and conviction. Through his own work and life experiences Danny was drawn to songs that illuminated working-class and social history and he was a popular figure at rallies with his chorus of "Bring Out The Banners", inspiring audience members to proudly wave high their union membership cards.

Danny migrated to Sydney in 1962 doing labouring work and starting to sing regularly in the burgeoning Sydney folk scene where he met Declan Affley. He moved to Melbourne in 1963 and was a regular at Frank Traynor’s jazz/folk club, singing along with performers: Martyn Wyndham-Read, Brian Mooney, David Lumsden, Trevor Lucas and Margret RoadKnight. From social historians and folklorists Wendy Lowenstein and Gwenda Davey, he learned the importance of the social context of the songs and proper attribution.

Over 50 years involvement in the folk scene, Danny presented nearly 50 workshops delving into the origins of British or Australian folk songs on many topics and he produced over 20 LPs and CDs. Danny performed regularly at folk festivals at the National in Canberra and Port Fairy in Victoria and at dozens of regional festivals. Once he retired, he alternated tours to Europe and the British Isles (2002-08) and North America (2003-15) becoming a huge favourite among the strong maritime/folk community in New England. The National Library has released the catalogue record for Danny's 4-hour oral history interview made with Rob Willis in May 2016: http://nla.gov.au/ nla.obj-287236132/listen

A giant of a man – we shan’t see his like again. Margaret Walters