A former member of The Waterboys is appearing for the Grayshott Folk Club at Grayshott Village Hall on November 4 at 7.30pm.

Steve Wickham was an integral and influential member of The Waterboys from 1985 until earlier this year but has now decided to spend more time on his own musical projects.

His appearance in Grayshott is one of only two he is making on a trip over from Ireland. The fiddle player and singer’s best-known song is Fisherman’s Blues, co-written with Mike Scott of The Waterboys.

Steve started playing violin aged three and later studied at the Royal College of Music in Dublin. In 1982 he met The Edge from U2 at a bus stop, and later recorded Sunday Bloody Sunday with U2 and toured with them.

Around the same time Steve and a couple of mates started a band called In Tua Nua which featured Sinead O’Connor as one of the singers.

In 1985, after some recording sessions in London, Steve was asked to join The Waterboys full-time and went on to make many records with them, including This Is The Sea and Fisherman’s Blues.

He is a much respected session fiddler and has recorded with Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Sinead O’Connor, World Party and Declan O’Rourke.

During his time with The Waterboys Steve released his first solo album Geronimo featuring Sligo musicians including bodhran maestro Junior Davey, cellist Anna Houston, guitarist/flautist Tommy Scanlon and harpist Deirdre Byron Smith. Other guests included Waterboys keyboardist Richard Naiff and Steve’s guitarist brother Henry.

Geronimo was named after Steve’s beloved long-serving violin and was his first venture into production. The result was a lush, rich interweaving of rock and folk textures, shot through with the warmth of Steve’s personality and the beauty of his playing.

Also appearing will be Ray Coen, who sings, plays guitar and fiddle, and has played alongside Steve since 2007 as part of occasional band No Crows.

Ray hails from Sligo and has increasingly moved from backing other musicians to performing his own material, releasing his debut album Out Of Sight in 2009.

A full member of No Crows since 2014, Ray contributed greatly to their album Waiting For The Tide, writing Good Times and making a beautiful arrangement of English trad song Solvay.

Hindhead girl Rebecca Jayne will do the support slot. In August she released the single Crazy Life, recorded with Bob Harris and his son Myles.

For tickets, priced £15, call Des O’Byrne on 01428 607096.