Elizabeth Ann Youlden (néeHiggins; 20 September 1929 – 20 February 1993) was aScottishballad singer fromAberdeenshire.
Elizabeth Ann Higgins was born on 20 September 1929, in Guest Row,Aberdeen. She was the daughter of settledTravellers Donald "Donty" Higgins, a piper, and the singerJeannie Robertson.[1][2] She had a younger brother, James. In 1941, after her school was twice bombed duringWorld War II, Higgins moved with her mother to the rural town ofBanchory, where the local children bullied her for her heritage.[1] She was so unhappy in this environment that she left school at fifteen despite the pleasure she gained from studying. She moved back to Aberdeen to fillet fish and take seasonal agricultural labouring.
She did not take up public singing until 1967 as she did not wish to distract public attention from her mother. "The folk scene claimed Jeannie. I [didn't] want it [to] claim me", she explained. She debuted at the Aberdeen Folk Song Festival, persuaded to sing by folk song collector Peter Hall.[1]
She married Brian Youlden. She died fromthroat cancer on 20 February 1993.[1]
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