Marty Morrissey
Marty Morrissey, one of Vermont's best-known folk musicians, died peacefully from metastatic melanoma in the early morning hours of March 30, 2021, accompanied by a roaring northwest wind and with a nearly full spring moon lighting up the sky. He leaves behind hundreds of heartbroken friends, bandmates and fans whose lives have been enriched by knowing this kind and amazing renaissance man.
Martin John Morrissey III was born in May 1938 in Essex, Mass., a small town on Cape Ann that Marty insisted was the place where fried clams were invented (at Woodmans of Essex, to be exact). His father was an Irish tenor, and his mother and aunt both played the piano. His aunt's wild rendition of "Kitten on the Keys" made a lasting impression on him, and Marty remembered "singing and dancing on tabletops" as a young boy. He was, as they say, "a born performer."