The Huggett Family in Dorset, England 1972

The Huggett Family were Canadian, international recording artists who performed traditional and contemporary folk songs with music from the renaissance and baroque periods during the late 1960s to early 1980s.

ABOUT

1969 - 1982

The Huggett Family, natives of Ottawa, Canada, consisted of parents, Margaret and Leslie, and their four children, Andrew, Jennifer, Ian, and Fiona.

In the 1970s, Europe and North America witnessed a growing interest in the music and instruments of the renaissance period. The Huggetts were part of this rebirth and played and sang their own unique mixture of new and old music on contemporary and ancient instruments to audiences across Canada, Europe, and the United States. They considered their shows "entertainments," a happy balance between a concert and a show, and they were equally well received by urban, rural, young, and old audiences alike.

Their success can be measured by the fact that in 1981/82, their Grand Canadian Tour grossed $1.1 million in 2022 dollars, a seven-month world box office record still untouched by any similar-sized early music group to this day.

This site is a chronological account of the group's 13-year career which started when the youngest were 8 and 10. It is a story that could only have happened in Canada in the 1970s. In the wake of the Sound of Music, the Partridge Family, the Osmonds, and the Jacksons, family music groups were all the rage. Folk music was considered mainstream. And Canadian provincial and federal governments were actively promoting unity by sponsoring cultural initiatives across the country, both for children and adults.

The '70s was a time of realative prosperity for the arts in Canada which suffered an economic downturn in the eighties. Had the Huggett's sought the same goals then it would have undoubtedly been more difficult. However, it would be a mistake to think that the Huggett's success didn't come without hard work and dedication. They took personal responsibility for all aspects of their enterprise. They practiced and sang for a minimum of 6 hours a day, were self-managed, drove themselves from one gig to the next, carried their own bags, made their own costumes, and researched their own shows. There were no roadies on a Huggett Famil tour.

The Huggett's 13-year journey is unique.

The Huggett Family welcomes you to this site. They appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy reading about their exploits.

This is their story.