Ralph and Helene Marks

The Dan Thomas Maritime & Traditional Stage, Saturday, 15.45 – 16.15

Ralph and Helene are a Hull couple who started singing together after seeing the closing concert of the first-ever Sea Fever, Hull’s original shanty festival.

They loved the rousing music, the amazing shanty choirs and the other singers of sea songs. They don’t describe themselves as true shanty singers, but started learning the sea songs of other singers, taking their repertoire from their brilliant singing (and they’ve got the CDs to prove it!).

Some of their harmonies are from the original recordings, and some are their own.

A lot of the songs in Ralph and Helene’s repertoire are by local songwriters, such as Mike Waterson, Linda Kelly, Paul and Liz Davenport, Bill Meek and John Connolly, and they have ‘collected’ songs from the likes of Kimber’s Men, the Keelers, and Salt of the Earth.

Most of their singing is done at the White Horse Folk Club in Beverley, but they love performing at the local free maritime concerts which happen twice a year.

Ralph and Helene used to love the singarounds at the shanty festival and were sad at its demise, so they are thrilled to see it revived as part of the Hull Folk and Maritime Festival.