 His mother was of Irish origin (from County Cork) and his father had East Anglian tinker roots, going back to a few generations.Softley first took up trombone in school and became interested in traditional jazz.He was later persuaded to become a singer by one of his school teachers, and this led to him listening to Big Bill Broonzy and promptly changed his attitude to music, to the extent of him buying a mail-order guitar and some tutorial books and teaching himself to play.