She wore a string of flowers in her long hair and a floaty dress as her beautiful voice captivated an audience of half a million people at the legendary Woodstock festival. Licorice McKechnie performed with the Scottish band The Incredible String Band, and her amazing vocals were a crucial component. Licorice, whose real name was Christina, appeared on nine Incredible String Band albums between 1967 and 1972. Then, some time in the late 1980s, she simply vanished. Of course, reclusive pop stars are nothing new, but McKechnie’s case was different. She seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Even her husband and family had no idea where she had gone. She even stopped collecting the lucrative royalties the band’s album sales continued to generate. The result was decades of speculation among fans and music enthusiasts about what had happened to the singer. Now, nearly 40 years after she first went missing, the mystery has finally been solved. Licorice McKechnie is very much alive and living in complete obscurity in Sacramento, Calif. Her existence today is a far cry from the days when she sang in sold-out arenas around the world. Home today is a small 10th-floor, one-bedroom apartment in a low-income high-rise. When a reporter tried to approach her for an interview, her response was, “Leave me alone.” The reporter tracked down McKechnie’s husband Brian, now 72, who verified that the photo he presented was his wife and said he was shocked to learn that she’s alive. He said he hadn’t seen her since the 1980s. David Harding, 88, who is related to McKechnie by marriage to her older sister Frances, said the singer detached herself from family years ago and they haven't heard from her. Brian said he had heard that his wife had drifted around taking occasional short term jobs as a waitress, while never revealing her former fame to anyone. He said he wishes her well, but doubts he’ll ever hear from her.
