Vashti Bunyan

Vashti Bunyan

Person from United Kingdom

Genres: folk, singer-songwriter, female vocalists, freak folk, indie

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About Vashti Bunyan

Jennifer Vashti Bunyan is an English singer-songwriter. She began her career in the mid-1960s and released a debut album, Just Another Diamond Day, in 1970. The album sold very few copies and Bunyan, discouraged, abandoned her musical career. By 2000, her album had acquired a cult following; it was re-released and Bunyan recorded more songs, initiating the second phase of her musical career after a gap of thirty years. She released two more albums, Lookaftering in 2005, and Heartleap in 2014. Bunyan was the youngest child of John Bunyan, a dentist, and Helen Webber. Her name, inspired by a family boat and a nickname for her mother (based on the Biblical queen Vashti), led to speculation about descent from John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, which she has denied. Her family moved to London when she was six months old. In the early 1960s, Bunyan attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford but was expelled for focusing on songwriting and guitar instead of art. Inspired by Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, she pursued music. In London, Andrew Loog Oldham, The Rolling Stones' manager, signed her, releasing her first single, "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind", in 1965, with Jimmy Page on guitar. A follow-up single, "Train Song", released in 1966, also failed commercially. In 1967, Bunyan, inspired by Donovan's idea of a creative commune in Skye, embarked on a 650-mile journey with her partner, Robert Lewis, in a horse-drawn wagon. The trip inspired songs for her debut album, Just Another Diamond Day. During the journey, she took a break to perform unsuccessfully in the Netherlands, where musician Derroll Adams encouraged her to share her songs. Upon returning to England, producer Joe Boyd recorded her album with musicians from Fairport Convention and The Incredible String Band. Released in 1970, the album received warm reviews but little attention, leading Bunyan to abandon music and focus on family life. For three decades, Bunyan lived a quiet life raising her children, unaware that her album had gained cult status. The 2000 re-release introduced her work to a new generation of artists like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Encouraged by their admiration, Bunyan returned to music, recording her second album, Lookaftering (2005), with collaborators such as Max Richter and Joanna Newsom. She toured North America in 2006 and released compilations of her early singles and demos. In 2008, a documentary, Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before, chronicled her journey and career. She contributed to several projects, including a cover of John Martyn's "Head and Heart" in 2011. In 2014, Bunyan released her third album, Heartleap, which she wrote, performed and produced herself, marking her artistic independence. In 2022, she published her memoir, Wayward: Just Another Life to Live. In 2024, she participated in a Joni Mitchell tribute concert and was set to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Bunyan's journey from obscurity to a celebrated figure in folk music exemplifies resilience and the rediscovery of artistic voice.

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