Benny Graham

Benny Graham is one of the North East’s best-known folk singers, with a career rooted in the mining communities and folk clubs of County Durham and Tyneside. Born in 1952 and raised in Stanley, he grew up around the culture of a working mining town, with family, chapel music and community life all feeding into the way he later approached traditional song.

Graham began performing on the folk-club circuit in his teens and by the late 1960s was appearing regularly at clubs including Birtley and Newcastle Folksong and Ballad Club. Songs connected to coal, steel, shipbuilding and rural life became part of a repertoire shaped by artists including Johnny Handle, Tommy Gilfellon, Alistair Anderson and the Elliott family of Birtley.

His work eventually reached well beyond local clubs, with UK and European touring as a solo performer and through projects including Pegleg Ferret. Graham has also worked as an actor, songwriter, educator and facilitator, taking traditional music into festivals, schools, community projects and theatre as well as concert settings.

More recently he has performed with The Pitmen Poets alongside Jez Lowe, Bob Fox and Billy Mitchell, drawing directly on the culture and history of North East mining communities. His English Folk Dance and Song Society Gold Badge recognises a career that has helped carry regional song from the folk revival into the present day.