Forebears: Delia Derbyshire, Electronic Music's Forgotten Pioneer

This essay is one in a series celebrating women whose major contributions in recording occurred before the time frame of NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women.

Of the forgotten and underappreciated pioneers of electronic music, no one deserves to be championed like Delia Derbyshire, who, in her decades of experimentation, altered the very fabric in which electronic music is understood. Misogyny runs rampant in the way musical history is presented, and persists today. But Derbyshire did not allow herself to be limited by prevailing expectations of her (or any) era; she became a founder of and one of the most important voices in electronic music. Experimental recording owes much to this woman who refused rejection.