Graeme Miles

Graeme Miles (1935 – 29 March 2013) was an English folk singer and songwriter based in Middlesbrough. Born in Greenwich, London, he grew up in Teesside and studied at West Hartlepool Art School. He became enamored with folk music and with the Teesside area in his teens, and upon realizing there was little to no folk music about Teesside itself, he set out to create it. He worked at the Middlesbrough Museum for a time, but gave up that comfortable job to work in the foundries and factories in order to better understand his community and what he was writing about. His mission was to find the beauty in the traditionally "ugly" and overlooked Northeast of England. Despite never officially releasing any recordings himself, many artists have sung and recorded Miles' songs, his more famous compositions including "Sea Coal", "Jack Ironside," "Blue Sunset," and "Ring of Iron".

The Graeme Miles Bursary, established in his memory, is open to artists and groups between the ages of 18 and 25 who are based in the Northeast of England. Funded by the proceeds of concerts organised by The Unthanks, it is administered by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The Rachel Hamer Band received a bursary in 2016.

In 2025, a biography of Miles was published by McGeary Media. Shadows & Whispers: Graeme Miles Remembered, by Ailsa MacKenzie, includes interviews with many of his friends and contemporaries and a selection of his songs with musical notation.