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Maddy Prior (born 14 August 1947, Blackpool, England) is an English folk singer who sings in Steeleye Span.

Born in Blackpool, Prior moved in her teens to St Albans, where she befriended the young Donovan Leitch and Mac MacLeod. She later formed a duo with MacLeod called Mac & Maddy. She became a roadie for visiting American musicians, including Reverend Gary Davis. They gave her useful advice about singing British folk songs instead of American songs. She decided not to copy the repertoire of Joan Baez, as Baez was already the undisputed mistress of American folk music.

Maddy's father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police drama Z-Cars. Allan Prior also wrote Stookie, a 6-part series for television, about a boy with his arm in a sling. Maddy sang the title song, which was released as a single in 1985. It reappeared on the Steeleye Span album A Rare Collection 1972 - 1996.

In 1966 she began performing with Tim Hart, another St Albans resident, and together they recorded two albums before becoming founding members of Steeleye Span in 1969. They were the backbone of the group until the early 1980s when ill-health forced Hart into semi-retirement. Apart from the tambourine, Prior doesn't play an instrument, but she always gives a sprightly performance of her individual dances. In 1974 Ralph McTell wrote "Maddy Dances" in her honour, included on his album "Easy".

Prior married bassist Rick Kemp, though they have since divorced. The singer Rose Kemp is their daughter.

Prior has recorded session work, albums of her own songs and eclectic styles from medieval, through electric folk, -Steeleye Span & Maddie Prior found fame on television with a regular programme Electric Folk - prog-rock and traditional songs, including session work on Mike Oldfield's Incantations. She left Steeleye Span in 1997 but returned in 2002. The 1999 album "The Journey" was recorded in 1995, when Maddy was still in the band but not released until four years later. She was also one half of the duo Silly Sisters, which helped to boost June Tabor's career.

Since 2003, Prior has run and hosted an Arts Centre called Stones Barn in Cumbria. Working with fellow singers and performers like Abbie Lathe and daughter Rose Kemp, Maddy has offered residential courses focusing on singing, meditation, cookery and performance. Other events, hosted by other teachers, include classical Indian dances, painting and drumming. Maddy campaigns on behalf of the charity Cancer Research UK.

Recorded during Steeleye Span Mark II's early days, Summer Solstice -- the most advanced of the three albums that they recorded together early in their careers -- has a very different feel from the Steeleye work of the era. Tim Hart (vocals, guitar, dulcimer, harmonium, psaltery, tabor) and Maddy Prior (vocals) are working with Sweeney's Men (whence Steeleye Mark I's Terry Woods came) alumnus Andy Irvine and Steeleye Mark I guest drummer Gerry Conway. The sound is mostly fairly spare, just Hart and Prior backed by Irvine on mandolin, John Ryan on string bass, Pat Donaldson on electric bass, and Conway on percussion. The only exception is "Dancing at Whitsun," which features a very tasteful backing orchestral arrangement. Hart and Prior do a version of "False Knight on the Road" that's very different in pacing and nuance from Steeleye's, and a beautiful, droning rendition of "Bring Us in Good Ale." Their voices mesh wonderfully on "Sorry the Day I Was Married," and Prior gets a chance to shine as a solo on "Westron Wynde," "Fly Up My Cock," and the two most Steeleye-like track here, "Cannily, Cannily" and "Three Drunken Maidens."

01 - False Knight on the Road
02 - Bring Us in Good Ale
03 - Of All the Birds
04 - I Live Not Where I Love
05 - The Ploughboy and the Cockney
06 - Westron Wynde
07 - Sorry the Day I Was Married
08 - Dancing at Whitsun
09 - Fly Up My Cock
10 - Cannily Cannily
11 - Adam Catched Eve
12 - Three Drunken Maidens
13 - Serving Girls Holiday