Dorris Henderson arrived in Britain in 1965 from Los Angeles, though she was originally from Florida. She arrived with credentials, not seriously folkie, yet serious enough to impress folk’s bohemian contingent in London.
London’s folk scene was experiencing one of its pivotal years and Henderson fell right in, recording There You Go with John Renbourn for Columbia in 1965.
But it was her Fontana album Watch The Stars (1967) which proved most revelatory, with beautiful tracks like Anne Briggs’ The Time Has Come, Dylan‘s Tomorrow Is A Long Time and Hedy West’s There’s An Anger In This Land.
Late in 1968, Henderson replaced Kerrilee Male as lead vocalist in British band, Eclection.
The band cut one single with her – Please (Mark II), a soulful cover of a song by the Californian psychedelic band Kaleidoscope – but although Eclection remained a popular live act on the university/college circuit, several personnel changes saw the band ultimately disappear within a year of their arrival.
Dorris Henderson briefly headed up a revamped version of Eclection in the 1970s.
