Louisa Jo Killen - Telegraph He was particularly drawn to maritime songs, and took to accompanying himself on an old concertina he found at home. His expressive vocal style was forged largely by his study of the techniques of some of the great traditional source singers like Sam Larner and Harry Cox. Killen had various jobs along the way - coffin-maker, industrial radiographer - but was soon a leading light of the new folk club scene. He contributed to a series of themed records of mining songs, industrial folklore and sea shanties for the Topic label before releasing his first solo LP in his own right, Ballads & Broadsides (Topic, 1965). Recently reissued on CD, it includes definitive versions of songs that were to become part of the furniture of the folk scene, such as All Things Are Quite Silent, Thorneymoor Woods, Young Edwin in the Lowlands and The Banks of Sweet Primroses. The appeal of a genuine working-class folk singer steeped in the industrial history of Tyneside also proved seductive to audiences in America, where he settled after marrying his first wife, Rochelle Hope Esterin. His Irish background led to an invitation to join The Clancy Brothers, whose theatrical performances had for the first time given Irish folk songs an international platform following a sensational performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Killen made four LPs with them until the rigours of touring took their toll and they ground to a halt in 1976. By now divorced and remarried to Sally Jennings, Killen resumed his solo career. He became heavily involved with Pete Seeger and others in the Clearwater campaign to clean up the Hudson river, contributing to two Clearwater albums. Alongside his singing and recording, he indulged his passion for sailing and lectured on folk music . Only once did he take on a day job, working for the San Francisco Maritime Museum. In 1978 he married his third wife, the clinical psychologist Margaret Osika. Killen did not perform in England again until a 1990 tour proved that he had lost none of his skill in delivering a dramatic ballad . He subsequently made regular returns to tour folk clubs and sing at maritime events, notably the Tall Ships Festival in Newcastle in 1993. Partly due to concerns about his health, and partly because he abhorred the Bush administration, Killen (who had divorced for a third time in 2000) returned to live in Gateshead in 2003. He had long felt confused about his gender, often privately dressing as a woman; and back in Britain, at sessions with a counsellor, the issue of gender reassignment was raised. Although fearful of people's reactions and of the effect it would have on his career, Killen finally decided to go ahead . Those who fondly recalled the bearded, beer-swilling figure lustily belting out sea shanties and telling bawdy stories were somewhat shocked when he quietly re-emerged as Louisa Jo Killen. But the reaction was generally positive and supportive and, although she was later diagnosed with cancer, Louisa Jo continued to lecture on folk song and perform with great courage and dignity. In 2008 the English Folk Dance and Song Society bestowed its greatest honour on her, the Gold Badge Award. Louisa Jo Killen, born January 10 1934, died August 13 2013