Bound together by lifelong friendship and shared experience for more than 25 years the Fishermen’s Friends have met on the Platt (Harbour) in their native Port Isaac to raise money for charity, singing the traditional songs of the sea handed down to them by their forefathers. 

 

In 2010 they signed a major record deal and their album Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends went Gold as they became the first traditional folk act to land a UK top ten album. Since then they’ve been the subject of an ITV documentary, released the hit albums One and All (2013), Proper Job (2015) & Sole Mates (2018) and played to hundreds of thousands of fans at home and abroad. 

 

They sang from HM The Queen at her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, they were selected to sing for Prince Charles & Camilla during their 2016 tour of Cornwall and were honoured with the 'Good Tradition Award' at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2011. 

 

Other standout performances include the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, Twickenham Stadium during half-time of England v Australia (an intimate crowd of 81,275), Cambridge Folk Festival, Beautiful Days, Sidmouth Folk Week, Looe Music Festival, Costa del Folk in Portugal and the BBC Proms in The Park. 

 

The Fishermen’s Friends are: brothers John & Jeremy Brown, Writer and moustachioed MC Jon Cleave, smallholder John ‘Lefty’ Lethbridge, builder John McDonnell, fishermen Jason Nicholas and film-maker Tony Lobb. Despite their musical adventures, the band can still be found working their day-jobs and enjoying life on the North Cornish Coast. 

 

2019 saw the release of Fishermen’s Friends a movie based on the group’s discovery and signing to a major record label. The film was written and produced by the team behind 2018’s British hit film Finding Your Feet and stars Daniel Mays, Tuppence Middleton, David Hayman, Sam Swainbury & James Purefoy. The film also features music from the Fisherman’s Friends and the buoys released a soundtrack album entitled Keep Hauling - Music from the Movie on March 15th 2019. 

 

The Fisherman’s Friends have been widely credited with starting the revival of interest in shanty-style choral singing but a cornerstone of their success has been their constantly evolving and expanding repertoire. The strongest belief that the band have always held dear is that friendship will always come first, with music a very close second!