Chris Leslie

Chris Leslie's first exposure to folk music began in the early '60s, when he discovered the work of the Watersons and Martin Carthy. Although he was drawn to several instruments — and mastered most of them on a virtuoso level as his career went on — it was on the fiddle that Leslie first distinguished himself, in performance and also on his first recording, made with his older brother John Leslie in 1976. He worked in a duo with Steve Ashley and as a session musician into the early '80s, when he became one of the four members of Whippersnapper, which included his one-time idol Dave Swarbrick. They worked together into the early '90s, and after their breakup he recorded with fellow Whippersnapper member Kevin Dempsey. Leslie joined Fairport Convention at the end of the 1990s. He has also seen some considerable success as a songwriter.