Introduction

Biography

Potter re­ceived her pri­ma­ry and se­cond­a­ry edu­ca­tion in Ja­mai­ca, where she stu­died pi­ano and vio­lin.

She then moved to Eng­land, where she trained as a mu­sic teach­er at St. Ka­tha­rine’s Col­lege, Li­ver­pool. In 1957, she earned a Li­cen­ti­ate of Mu­sic de­gree at Tri­ni­ty Col­lege, Lon­don, where she played vio­lin in se­ver­al or­ches­tras.

She mar­ried Phi­lip Pot­ter, who served as Ge­ne­ral Sec­re­ta­ry of the World Council of Church­es in Ge­ne­va, Swit­zer­land. Through that con­nect­ion, she met Fred Kaan and be­gan writing tunes for his texts. In 1975 they pub­lished Break Not the Cir­cle, with 20 new hymns.