Ralph McTell

Although he's best known for his classic folk song staple "Streets of London," which first appeared on his Spiral Staircase album in 1969, Ralph Mctell is a multi-dimensional guitarist and singer/songwriter who's influenced hundreds of folk singers in Great Britain, Europe and around the U.S. Fortunately, people in the U.S. and around Europe are beginning to connect to his vast body of excellent original work, and not just "Streets," which has been recorded more than 200 times by artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and even the angry punk group Anti-nowhere League, and is still Mctell's most requested song.



Mctell was raised in post-WWII London with his mother and a younger brother as Ralph May. His father left home when he was two. He began to show musical talent when he was seven, when he began playing harmonica. When skiffle bands became all the rage in England, Scotland and Ireland, Mctell began playing ukulele and formed his first band. Later in his teens, he began playing guitar.

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