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A Woman's Heart | |
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Compilation album by various | |
Released | July 1992 |
Genre | Folk |
Label | Dara |
Producer | Joe O'Reilly |
A Woman's Heart is a compilation of twelve tracks performed by six female Irish artists, namely Eleanor McEvoy, Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, Frances Black and Maura O'Connell. The album was released in July 1992 and sold over 750,000 copies, more than any other album in Irish chart history [1] and nearly one million copies worldwide. [2]
The 20th anniversary of its release was celebrated with four sold-out performances at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Eleanor McEvoy, Mary Coughlan, Sharon Shannon, Dolores Keane, Wallis Bird and Hermione Hennessy were on the bill.
In April 2012, Kiera Murphy produced a documentary entitled Our Woman's Hearts which explores how A Woman's Heart came about, why it became so popular, and the effect it has had on three generations of some Irish women. [3] The documentary was a part of RTÉ Radio 1's series Documentary on One.
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra performed an orchestrated version of the album with McEvoy, O'Connell and Wallis Bird in February 2020 at the National Concert Hall, [4] and a similar concert has been announced for May 2022 in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. [5]
"The Secret of Living", written by Eleanor McEvoy was released in July 2012 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the A Woman's Heart. The song is performed by Eleanor McEvoy, Mary Coughlan, Sharon Shannon, Gemma Hayes and Hermione Hennessey.
Mary Black is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland.
De Dannan is an Irish folk music group. It was formed 1975 by Frankie Gavin (fiddle), Alec Finn, Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh (bodhrán) and Charlie Piggott (banjo) as a result of sessions in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal, County Galway, with Dolores Keane (vocals) subsequently being invited to join the band. The fiddler Mickey Finn (1951–1987) is also acknowledged to have been a founder member.
Joseph Ronald Drew was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners.
Tommy Fleming is an Irish singer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s after he was asked to tour the US with Phil Coulter. He soon established himself as a solo artist and found his greatest success singing traditional Irish music, both old and contemporary. Fleming has toured extensively throughout Ireland, UK, United States, the Netherlands and Australia.
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician, best known for her work with the button accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 debut album, Sharon Shannon, was the best-selling album of traditional Irish music ever released in Ireland. Beginning with Irish folk music, her work demonstrates a wide-ranging number of musical influences. She won the lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.
Mary Coughlan is an Irish singer, songwriter and actress.
Dolores Keane is an Irish folk singer and occasional actress. She was a founding member of the group De Dannan and has since embarked on a solo career.
Eleanor McEvoy is an Irish singer-songwriter. She composed the song "Only a Woman's Heart", title track of A Woman's Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.
Seán Keane is an Irish singer and musician, known for his distinctive sean-nós-style voice.
Eleanor Shanley, from Keshcarrigan in County Leitrim in the North West of Ireland, is an Irish and Roots musician. She made her first appearance as a singer with traditional group De Danann, and subsequently with Ronnie Drew. She has also toured with Christy Moore and Sharon Shannon and as a soloist both in Ireland and abroad, where she is much in demand at top music festivals.
Frances Black is an Irish singer and politician. She came to prominence in the late 1980s when she began to play with her family's band, the Black Family, performing a mix of traditional and contemporary Irish music.
The People in Need Trust was a charity in Ireland. It was deregistered in 2016.
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Eleanor McEvoy is the 1993 studio album debut of Eleanor McEvoy, released on Geffen Records. International radio hits followed with the release of the two main singles "A Woman's Heart" and "Apologize." The former track had originally gained fame as the title track for A Woman's Heart, the biggest-selling Irish album in Irish history.
Snapshots, Eleanor McEvoy's third studio album, was released in 1999. McEvoy's primary goal was to make Snapshots her most song-oriented album to date. Toward that goal, McEvoy hooked up with producer Rupert Hine. The extensive use of drum loops on the album was a complete change in style from McEvoy's previous work. This is McEvoy's only album on which she does not play violin. Before the overdub sessions, she was attacked whilst walking down the street on the way home from the studio and her hand broken, although she recovered completely. Columbia Records had not been prepared for these changes and not long after the release of Snapshots McEvoy was dropped; her subsequent recordings were on independent labels.
Midnight Well are a foursome consisting of Thom Moore, Janie Cribbs, Gerry O'Beirne and Mairtín Ó Connor. They were formed in the mid-seventies and issued one, self-titled, album in 1977. Prior to the Sligo Live Festival appearance in October 2008 they had not performed together for 27 years.
The 2009 Meteor Music Awards ceremony took place on 17 March 2009 in the RDS, Dublin. It was the ninth edition of Ireland's national music awards. The event was recorded and it aired on RTÉ Two on 18 March 2009. The awards show was hosted by television presenter Amanda Byram.
TradFest Temple Bar is an annual music and culture festival that takes place in late January in Dublin, Ireland. Founded by the Temple Bar Company, a not-for-profit organisation who work on behalf of businesses in the cultural quarter of Temple Bar, Dublin, it celebrates traditional Irish and folk music and cultural offerings and was launched in 2005. One of the few independent events of its type in Ireland, it has become a major draw for international audiences travelling from the US, UK and Europe - attracting almost 25,000 visitors in 2017. Ticket prices are kept to a minimum price to ensure value for money for those attending. The festival has established its reputation by attracting some of the biggest names internationally in folk and traditional Irish music such as Billy Bragg, Donovan, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Martin Carthy, Maria McKee, Fairport Convention, Eddi Reader, Sarah Jarosz, Ralph McTell, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Steeleye Span and Levellers. Notable Irish acts who have performed include Glen Hansard, Aoife O’Donovan, Damien Dempsey, Declan O’Rourke, Paul Brady, Mundy, Mick Flannery, Maura O’Connell, Finbar Furey, The Dublin Legends, Clannad, Altan, Beoga, Martin Hayes, Kila and Stockton's Wing.
Transatlantic Sessions is the collective title for a series of musical productions by Glasgow-based Pelicula Films Ltd, funded by- and produced for BBC Scotland, BBC Four and RTÉ of Ireland. The productions comprise collaborative live performances by various leading folk, bluegrass and country musicians from both sides of the North Atlantic, playing music from Scotland, Ireland, England and North America, who congregate under the musical direction of Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas to record and film a set of half-hour TV episodes. The Television director is Mike Alexander and the producer is Douglas Eadie.