Died On This Date (December 18, 2000) Kirsty MacColl / English Singer-Songwriter

Kirsty MacColl
October 10, 1959 – December 18, 2000

Kirsty MacColl was a gifted English singer-songwriter who came to international acclaim during the late ’80s.   She was married to famed record producer, Steve Lillywhite during this time.  In 1978, MacColl was signed by Stiff Records based on her backing vocal tracks on a record by punk band, Drug Addix who Stiff ultimately passed on.  Stiff released her first single, “They Don’t Know,” in the UK the following year to critical praise and plenty of radio play, but unfortunately, a distributor strike hindered the record getting to market, so it never sold to its potential.  The song became a hit in the U.S. when covered by Tracy Ullman in 1983.  In the mid ’80s, MacColl found herself stuck without a record contract when Stiff went out of business, so she went to work as a session singer, appearing on records by the likes of the Smiths, Talking Heads, and Big Country, and most famously, singing a duet with Shane MacGowan on the Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York,” which reached #2 on the UK singles chart.  MacColl continued to release well-received albums throughout the ’90s.  In December of 2000, MacColl was vacationing with her sons along the coast of Mexico.  On December 18, they were diving with a trained professional in a designated dive area of Cozumel when a powerboat sped into the no-boat area and headed straight toward the group.  MacColl saw that one of her sons was in the boat’s direct path so she pushed him out of the way, but was hit and killed instantly. There has been strong speculation that a wealthy Mexican businessman may have been at the wheel of the boat but that another passenger was paid a large sum of money to take the blame which eventually lead to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.  Many feel justice for Kirsty MacColl has yet to be served.

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