Fairport Convention, formed in 1967, were named after the family home of guitarist Simon Nicol and the place where the band first rehearsed.
They played their first gig at a church hall in Golders Green in May of that year.
After a whirwind rise to success, impressing record company talent-spotters with their performances at some of London’s premier venues, they had signed a record deal with Polydor by the end of the year.
Mr Nicol, the beating heart of the band and the only original member left, recalls the period.
“We were playing lots of gigs, to people at labels who were in a position to give us a wage to play and record. I think timing was a key factor.
“Everyone was in and out of bands. It was a phase that most young people went through – nobody really had aspirations to be a musician for a living and most people went on to have proper careers.
“I just forgot to get off the bus.
“The ‘teenager’, as a concept was invented in the mid-1950s, and the 1960s saw the optimism of youth reflected in the culture of the time. Out with the grey suits, and in with the flowery shirts.
“It was like a blast of fresh air for a generation.”
The more liberal outlook carried over into popular music, with artists less afraid to experiment with different types of music.
Fairport Convention’s self-titled debut LP – featuring original songs and covers from emerging stars and key influences from across the Atlantic, including Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan – was released in summer 1968.
Initial sales were disappointing, but it was with their next two albums, What We Did on Our Holidays, and Unhalfbricking, both released in 1969, that they started to define their sound.
With star songstress Sandy Denny taking over lead vocal duties, the records showcased an inventive fusion of traditional folk with its songwriting and storytelling methods, and modern production with electric instruments and a contemporary edge.
American folk of the time was more protest-driven.
Both records were championed by trendsetting radio DJ John Peel, and the latter album featured the track, ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes?’, penned by Denny, which is now regarded as a classic and one of their best.
In the midst of this newfound success came tragedy that would rock the band to its core.
Its tour bus crashed on the motorway on the way back from a gig in May 1969 and Martin Lamble, the group's 19-year-old drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, a bandmate’s girlfriend, were killed.
“It was calamitious, and it took us all off at the knees,” said Nicol. “We all were physically injured to some extent, but the emotional scarring stayed with us. Martin was young and very talented, and every day I think about what he would be now.”
A recuperation period followed, and soon after they produced what would be their seminal album, Liege and Lief.
“Our aim was to blur the distinction between modern and traditional songwriting, and it took the form of a concept album. Everyone was experimenting with sounds at the time. Some worked, some were hilariously bad – but ours was successful."
Charismatic frontman Ashley Hutchings left in 1970 after becoming disillusioned with the band’s musical direction, and he went on to form Steeleye Span and The Albion Band, both considered to be folk-rock trailblazers.
The 1970s saw a dramatic shift in the musical landscape: glam and heavy rock, funk and disco were the flavour of the hour - leaving Fairport Convention out in the cold.
The decade was a period of instability and uncertainty which culminated in the band, without a label and with no takers on the horizon, disbanding and playing a farewell concert in the village of Cropredy, Oxfordshire, in 1979.
They returned to the village for a bigger set the following year, and with demand growing, Fairport's Cropredy Convention folk festival was born.
The festival is the largest of its kind in Europe, attracting about 20,000 people a year.
There has been a merry-go-round of new band members from the very start – no fewer than 21 people have come and gone – but the current line-up of Simon Nichol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie and Gerry Conway, have been together since 1998.
“Most of the changes came early on, but they were always little shifts, so Fairport Convention was still the same animal,” said Nicol, now 61.
“No-one ever got out completely; we are like one big family, so once you’re in, you were in for life, in some shape or form.
“To still be going after 45 years is just incredible, and we are just extremely grateful.
“Our audiences have stayed loyal, and I think that people can see that we have stayed true to ourselves."
l Fairport Convention will be at the Beck Theatre, in Grange Road, Hayes, on Sunday February 19. The show starts at 7.30pm. Call the box office on 020 8561 8371.
