STEELEYE SPAN MEMBER DIES AT 61

Tim Hart, a founding member of the British folk-rock group Steeleye Span, died Dec. 24 of lung cancer, according to his daughter. He was 61.
Hart died in La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands, where the Briton had lived since retiring from the music scene, Sally Hart told The Associated Press.

Hart was a star of the 1960s folk scene in Britain, first gaining fame in a musical partnership with singer Maddy Prior in 1966. The duo recorded two albums of "Folk Songs of Olde England," with the versatile Hart backing their singing on guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, banjo and violin.

In 1971, Hart and Prior joined with Ashley Hutchings, who had left the Fairport Convention to form a new band. The new project, at Hart's suggestion, was named Steeleye Span after a character in a Lincolnshire folk song, "Horkstow Grange."

Hart left Steeleye Span in 1983, but appeared at a charity concert with the group in 1995. Last year, he appeared with Prior at a BBC concert in London.

Living on La Gomera, Hart developed his interest in photography. He called the island "my inexhaustible subject" and did his own pictures for his English language guide to the island, published in 2004.

Hart is survived by his wife Connie, and a daughter and son from a previous marriage.