Trevor Grills obituary

Sea shanty singer with Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends

    Robin Denselow        
    guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 February 2013 18.07 GMT        

Trevor Grills has died aged 54, after an accident at a concert hall in Guildford, Surrey, where he had been due to perform with the folk group Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends. He was a self-employed builder and carpenter with a fine tenor voice who found unexpected fame in his 50s when the amateur singers he worked with were signed to a major record label in a £1m deal.

It was a fairytale story, based around the north Cornish fishing village of Port Isaac, where Grills was born, and where he spent the rest of his life; he went to the local school, and attended Sunday school at the local chapel. His father was a carpenter and builder, and Trevor took over the family business, spending much of his time renovating the old cottages in the picturesque village that were bought by outsiders as second homes. He was also a footballer, playing on the wing for the village team, and because of his burly good looks he was known to the other Fisherman's Friends as "the housewives' choice", along with his group nickname of "Toastie".

The group got together, 15 years ago, simply because they loved singing. Assembled in the village pub on a Friday night would be a group of friends who had known each other since school days, and who had gone on to become fishermen, lifeboatmen, coastguards, builders or artisans. They began to specialise in sea shanties, taking songs from Cadgwith in south-west Cornwall, where there is a strong shanty tradition, and adding in any other seafaring ballads from elsewhere in Britain and around the world, including Sloop John B and the rousing South Australia. Grills enthusiastically took part in the sessions, joining in the a capella harmony singing, but for years he was reluctant to sing lead – although he would be acknowledged as having one of the finest voices in the group.

Steve Knightley, of the West Country folk group Show of Hands, first met Fisherman's Friends in the mid-90s, when they were rehearsing in the former Methodist chapel that is now a pottery run by their baritone singer Billy Hawkins. "They were friends for whom singing was as natural as having a beer," he says, "though they couldn't read music – they'd just find a harmony and cling on to it!" As for Grills: "He was an absolute gentleman, and the most accomplished of their singers, with a pure tenor voice. He was their star and blue-eyed boy, and they were all proud of him".

The men aimed to enjoy themselves, and never thought of becoming celebrities, but their fame gradually spread, thanks partly to Show of Hands, who invited the group to appear with them at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001, and join them for the recording of their song Roots. Then came the deal with Universal, the recording of a top 10 gold album, appearances at major festivals including Glastonbury, and plans for a feature film about their remarkable story, to be directed by Nigel Cole, who was responsible for Calendar Girls and Made in Dagenham.

Knightley said: "They were never corrupted by the music business. They were too rooted to be altered like that. They just loved singing and were like a bunch of kids on the road."

Grills became famous within the group for what they called his "bloody miserable songs", one of which he performed at his final London concert, at the Royal Festival Hall, when Fisherman's Friends appeared alongside Show of Hands. One of the most powerful songs of the Fisherman's Friends set that night was the lament The Last Leviathan ("I am the last of the great whales, and I am dying") with Grills powerfully taking the lead, and his nine friends lined up on either side of him adding the chorus.

Just a few days later, he suffered head injuries in an accident at the G Live concert hall, in Guildford, that also caused the death of the band's manager, Paul McMullen.

Grills is survived by his wife, Leslie, and three sons, Mark, Paul and Josh.

• Trevor Grills, singer and builder, born 2 January 1959; died 11 February 2013