The folk-pop star has died aged 81, but leaves behind a magnificently witty and varied back catalogue
As a Californian teenager, Julie Felix – who has died aged 81 – never imagined herself becoming a folk singer, but her guitar became a handy tool for expanding her social life, getting her into Santa Barbara’s fancier parties and coffee houses: “I ended up at the Unicorn in
Hollywood where I sang Spanish songs, Michael Row The Boat Ashore, some Burl Ives. It wasn’t serious, but I got free beer.”
With long dark hair and mixed ancestry (Latin
American on her father’s side, Native American and Welsh on her mother’s) she had the perfect beatnik look, and a trek around Europe in the early 60s eventually led her to become a long-term
UK resident, ending up with two
BBC TV series of her own.