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Hello I’m Belinda O’Hooley and I am in a folk duo called “O’Hooley & Tidow”. Well it used to be just O’Hooley until a certain Heidi started singing at my local music venue...


I’ll tell you more about that later. I’ve been around for a while doing all sor- ts of music including singing in nur- sing and residential homes(which I still do) and playing piano and song- writing for Rachel Unthank & the Winterset (now The Unthanks). I played on two of their albums; “Cru- el Sister” and the Mercury nomina- ted “The Bairns”. Leaving that band was a really difficult decision, partly as I knew we were going to do really well and we had all worked so hard on the last album. However, I didn’t like the way the band was being ma- naged and I also felt as we became more successful, decisions were be- coming less and less democratic. I do not regret leaving but do wish that it hadn’t ended on such a sour note. But life goes on.


Heidi was performing in her own right as a singer-songwriter on the Yorkshire music scene when I hap- pened to come to one of her gigs. I was instantly captivated by her songs and her distinct and expres- sive voice. We hit it off and Heidi began providing backing vocals on my songs. It soon became clear that we had a connection, both in perfor- mance and songwriting which lent itself to us becoming equal partners.


Our debut together was as support for Jim Moray in Whitby at the Compass Club in May 2008. Jim McLoughlin; the promoter, heard one song in our soundcheck and im- mediately offered us a slot at Music- Port Festival in Bridlington. It was this performance which guaranteed us more festivals for the following year including Larmer Tree, Shepley & Beverley, representation by a folk agency, plus an opportunity to tour with Chumbawamba in March 2009.


We live in the Colne Valley in Hud- dersfield, but my musical back- ground originates in County Sligo, Ireland. My uncle is multi-instru- mentalist Tony Howley, and my cou- sin Colm O‘Donnell leads the Border Collie Band. Another cousin Tommy Fleming has mapped out a success- ful solo singing career since leaving Irish super-group De Danaan. Being half-German and half-Irish, Heidi is the unsettling combination of two very different cultures; the traditi-


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