Sandra Kerr, 1942–2026
We have lost one of the great souls of music making. Sandra Kerr died peacefully at the end of October. To read her obituary and learn of some of the many things she did, please see https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/nov/03/sandra-kerr-obituary For me and for my fellow Playsongs creators, she was Playsongs. It is her voice and her instrumental sound and style that are at the heart of the 250+ recordings we have made these last 39 years. Back in the late 1970s, Sandra had come into my life as a scarily fierce critic of one of the books my music department at A&C Black Ltd had published. She was scathing of its subtitle: 'Songs for Thinking People' - her review in so many words described it as a tepid concoction of feel good music which would do nothing to change the world. She briskly marched into our offices to tell us so. Taken aback, my director, to his credit, invited Sandra to do a better job. The result was a robust collection of hard-hitting songs called Sing for Your Life - far more likely to make everyone stop and think. But I soon became familiar with the other side of this initially terrifying and awe-inspiring person, who already had Bagpuss under her belt and had worked extensively with other greats of folk music. What she brought alongside her fierce protest against the wrongs of the world were her warmth, her generosity, her sharply funny wit, and her wholehearted support for and encouragement of the musical journeys of others. She virtually forced me to play my neglected accordion, and with total patience, taught me tunes by ear, which I cannot forget, and which I play to this day. . Out of that friendship, together, we made Playsongs - the first substantial collection of songs for babies and toddlers, which required no music reading and was supported by a full set of audio recordings. I did the pulling together of the book, Sandra roped in her friend, Leon Rosselson, and found us a studio in Shepherds Bush. Then within an extraordinarily short time, and with experience, skill and professionalism, Sandra and Leon recorded all 52 songs - singing and playing live together, without separation and in single takes, and with that intimacy that makes a Playsongs track sound like it's being sung just to you and your baby, and to no one else.
'Thank you' feels too flimsy a word to express all that Playsongs and I owe to Sandra. You'll understand better if I leave you with the song she wrote for that first Playsongs collection. She told me one day that she'd been mulling the idea of a song, which had come to her from a friend's family saying to encourage their little ones up the stairs and into bed: "Let's go up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire...". And that saying became this song, and this song is Sandra:
Photo: Sandra and her partner David on their beloved coast of Northumberland .
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