Born Jimmie Miller around Salford to Scottish parents, William and Betsy Miller. He left school inside 1929, joined a Young Communist League and a socialist amateur theatre company, the Clarion Players. He began his career as a writer helping garden truck, & contributing humourous verse & skits to, a few of the Communist Party's factory papers. He was an militant in a unemployed workers campaigns & the mass trespasses of the early Thirties. One of his most famous songs A Manchester Rambler was written fallowing a polar mass trespass of Kinder Scout .

Around 1931 with other unemployed members of a Clarion Players he formed an agit-prop class action, the Red Megaphones. Around 1934 they changed the title to Theatre of Action and not long when were introduced to the young actress recently moved higher from either London. This was Joan Littlewood who became Miller's wife & act partner. Within 1936, after a failing attempt to relocate to London, the few returned to Manchester and formed Theatre Union. Within 1940 the performance of The Last Edition - a 'residing newspaper' - was halted per constabulary & Miller & Littlewood were attached all over for deuce years for 'breach of the peace'. A necessities of wartime brought an prevent to Theatre Union.

Within 1946 members of Theatre Union and others formed Theatre Workshop and spent the next pack years touring, mostly north of England. Jimmie Miller got by so changed his title to Ewan MacColl. Inside Theatre Union roles got been shared however currently, around Theatre Workshop, it were further formalised. Littlewood was a resole producer & MacColl dramaturge, art director and resident dramatist. A techniques that experienced been developed around Theatre Union at present were refined, producing a distinctive form of theatre which was a hallmark of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop when a company was down the road known. It were an impoverished travel company, however were making the title for themselves.

Therein period of time MacColl's enthusiasm for folk music grew. Within 1953 Theatre Workshop opted to settle in Stratford, London, & MacColl, who was opposed to the move, left & began to concentrate on the promotion and performance of folk music. His yearn involvement by using Topic Records was first perceptible around 1950 whilst he freed one "The Asphalter's Song" on the label.

Too when writing & performing, MacColl followed in the footsteps of his colleague Alan Lomax and collected traditional ballads. On top the years he recorded upwards of a c albums, several by having English folk song collector & singer A.L. Lloyd. Them together freed the series of eight records of the Child Ballads, many of which appeared in his more albums.

Around 1956, MacColl caused the scandal by allowing his so 2nd married woman Jean Newlove for Peggy Seeger, who was numerous years his junior. It was for her that he wrote a classic, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". This song became the #1 hit for Roberta Flack in 1972; MacColl won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for it, while Flack won a Record of the Year award for it.

His more right-known song is "Dirty Old Town", written about his at home town of Salford in Lancashire. It was written to handle an awkward scene vary within his play "Landscape with Chimneys" (1949), but using the growing popularity of ethnic music the song became a standard, a share of numbers of a singer's repertoire. Recordings include Rod Stewart (1969), the Pogues (1985) and Simple Minds (2003)

MacColl got been the radio actor since 1933. Per late thirties he was scripting too. Within 1957 producer Charles Parker asked MacColl to collaborate in a creation of a feature programme all about the heroic dying of train driver John Axon. Normal procedure would utilise been to use a recorded field interviews simply when source for writing a script. MacColl produced a script that incorporated the actual voices then created a fresh form that it known as the radio ballad. Between 1957 and 1964 eight were broadcast by the BBC, all created per team of MacColl & Parker together by using Peggy Seeger world health organization handled musical counsel. MacColl wrote a scripts & a songs, too when, by owning a others, collecting a field recordings which were a heart of the productions.

Seeger & MacColl recorded many albums of searing political comment songs. MacColl himself wrote terminated 300 songs, a select few of which own been recorded by creative person (additionally to victims mentioned above) like Planxty, The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. Around 2001, The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook was published, which includes a words & music to 200 of his songs.

There is a plaque dedicated to MacColl inside Russell Square in London. A inscription includes: "Presented by his communist friends 25.1.1990 ... Folk Laureate - Singer - Dramatist - Marxist ... in recognition of strength and singleness of purpose of this fighter for Peace and Socialism". Within 1991 he was awarded the posthumous honorary degree per University of Salford.

His girl from either his 2nd marriage, Kirsty MacColl, followed him into a musical career, albeit less traditional.

Bibliography
Theatres of the Left, 1880-1935, Workers' Theatre Movements within Britain & United states of america, by Raphael Samuel, Ewan MacColl & Stuart Cosgrove. 1985. ISBN 0710009011 Agit-Prop to Theatre Workshop, Political Playscripts, 1930-1950, edited by Howard Goorney & Ewan MacColl. 1986. ISBN 0719022118 Journeyman, an Autobiography, by Ewan MacColl. 1990. ISBN 0283060360