What happened to 80s British pop singer Kirsty MacColl?

Curiously, this question came up when I heard a song by Belle & Sebastian on the radio.

It was “Stars of Track and Field” from their 1996 album If you feel scary. Listen to it:

Catchy melody. I know I’ve heard it before, but this time something about it caught my eye. It sounded like an early 80’s pop song called “They Don’t Know”. The internet brought this song by Tracey Ullman to my attention. Yes, The Tracey Ullman, the British actress/comedian/dancer/singer whose The Tracey Ullman Show brought a small animated sitcom called The simpsons.

Ullman had a brief musical career in the early to mid 1980s and she recorded two albums: 1983 You broke my heart in 17 places and 1984 You got meThe songs were mostly cover versions of pop girl groups and artists of the 60s such as Irma Thomas, Doris Day and Skeeter Davis.

Ullman’s biggest hit single was “They Don’t Know,” which reached #2 in the UK and #8 in the US. Here’s the music video, which features a cameo by Paul McCartney:

Here is Ullman’s live performance in Toronto a few years ago:

It turned out that “They Don’t Know” was a cover of a song composed and first recorded in 1979 by British pop/new wave singer Kirsty MacColl:

“They Don’t Know” was played on the radio a few times in the UK, but did not sell well and MacColl left Stiff Records for Polydor in 1981. Her first LP, Desperate characterwas released this year and included the popular single “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”:

Her breakthrough came in 1989 with the album Dragonwith a cover of “Days” by The Kinks and two songwriting collaborations with Johnny Marr of The Smiths:

Dragon In 1991, Electric Landlord1993s Titanic Days and 2000s Tropical BrainstormOne of their biggest hits in the USA was “Walking Down Madison” by Electric Landlord:

MacColl has performed backing vocals on recordings by bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Smiths, The Talking Heads, Simple Minds, Big Country and others, many of which were produced by her husband Steve Lillywhite. MacColl and Lillywhite were married from 1984 to 1994 and had two sons.

She can also be heard on the Pogues’ 1987 hit “Fairytale of New York”, where she sings a duet with Shane MacGowan:

In December 2000, MacColl, her sons and her boyfriend, musician James Knight, were vacationing in Cozumel, Mexico. While they were swimming and diving in the Chankanaab Reef, a closed area for watercraft, a motorboat approached MacColl and her sons at high speed. She knocked her 15-year-old son Jamie off the boat’s path, who suffered only minor injuries. MacColl, however, was struck by the boat and died instantly. She was 41 years old.

Guillermo González Nova, president of a Mexican supermarket chain, was on board the boat with members of his family. It is alleged that González Nova was steering the boat when it struck and killed MacColl, and that a boatman was paid by González Nova to take the blame for the incident. Difficulties in dealing with Mexican law enforcement prompted MacColl’s family to launch the Justice for Kirsty campaign.

MacColl’s music was re-released and released on compilations several times in the years following her death, although an album MacColl recorded for Polydor in 1983 was not properly released until 1987. Real will be released in 2023, along with an eight-disc box set called See this girl 1979–2000.

Earlier this year, Demon Music released a two-part yellow vinyl collection called Kirsty MacColl: Free World – The Best of Kirsty MacColl 1979-2000.