Eliza Carthy
MBE, EFDSS Gold Badge recipient
Eliza was appointed President of the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 2021, after having been Vice-President since 2008.
The daughter of folk musicians Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, Eliza has been performing from a very early age. Describing herself simply as a ‘modern English musician’, Eliza has revitalised and made folk music relevant to new audiences and has captured the most hardened of dissenters with canny, charismatic and boundary-crossing performance.
Eliza was awarded an MBE in June 2014. With a host of awards including two nominations for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, Eliza is also the winner of more than five BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and has presented awards for MOJO magazine and been invited to judge at both the Q Awards and the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2003 she became the first English traditional musician to be nominated for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music.
Eliza is a very busy artist, writing and performing as a solo artist and with her own bands. Over the years she has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including Paul Weller, Jools Holland, Joan Baez and Cerys Matthews. She divides her time between touring and recording with her legendary parents Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson (as Waterson, Carthy and the Gift Band) and pioneering solo and band projects.
Previous Presidents have been:
Shirley Collins MBE
President 2008–2020
Ursula Vaughan Williams
President 2002–2007
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden CI, GCVO, CE
President 1961–2008
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM
President 1932–1958
