This paper offers a preliminary tribute to the work of the late Jean Rudduck, pioneer of student voice, both as an academic field and as a potential agent of school transformation. Tracing the roots of her student voice work back to CARE (Centre for Applied Research in Education) and the Humanities Curriculum Project (1967-1972), the author follows the intellectual narrative of her student voice work from the mid-1990s up to and including her forthcoming (2007) book, "Improving learning through consulting pupils," co-authored with Donald McIntyre. The paper closes by suggesting eight aspects of Jean Rudduck's work that make a distinctive, enduring contribution to the field of student voice and thereby to a more humane, more creative approach to education in and for democracy. (Contains 5 notes.)