William Michael Joseph Whelan is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute piece of original music accompanying a new take on traditional Irish stepdance that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish traditional music and dance. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one in Ireland for 18 weeks and number nine in the UK. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995.
The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in both Dublin and London in the early 1960s, and were signed to the Major Minor label in 1965 after backing from Dominic Behan who was paid by Major-Minor to work with the Dubliners and help them to build a better act fit for larger concert hall venues. The Dubliners worked with Behan regularly between 1965 and 1966; Behan wrote numerous songs for this act including the song McAlpine's Fusiliers created specifically to showcase Ronnie Drew's gravel voice. They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline which was part-owned by Phil Solomon CEO of Major Minor, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". Often performing political songs considered controversial at the time, they drew criticism from some folk purists and Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ had placed an unofficial ban on their music from 1967 to 1971. During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.
Luke Kelly was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly moved to England in his late teens and by his early 20s had become involved in a folk music revival. Returning to Dublin in the 1960s, he is noted as a founding member of the band The Dubliners in 1962. The Irish Post and other commentators have regarded Kelly, known for his distinctive singing style and sometimes political messages, as one of Ireland's greatest folk singers.
Joseph Ronald Drew was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor who had a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners.
Ciarán Bourke was an Irish musician and one of the original founding members of the Irish folk band The Dubliners.
Bernard Noël "Banjo Barney" McKenna was an Irish musician and a founding member of The Dubliners. He played the tenor banjo, violin, mandolin, and melodeon. He was most renowned as a banjo player.
Philip Coulter is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009.
"The Auld Triangle" is a song by Dick Shannon, often attributed to Brendan Behan, who made it famous when he included it in his 1954 play The Quare Fellow. He first performed it publicly in 1952 on the RTÉ radio programme 'The Ballad Maker's Saturday Night', produced by Mícheál Ó hAodha. Behan's biographer, Michael O'Sullivan, recorded, 'It has been believed for many years that Brendan wrote that famous prison song but Mícheál Ó hAodha says he never laid claim to authorship. Indeed he asked him to send a copyright to another Dubliner, Dick Shannon.' When he recorded the song for Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folksongs and Ballads, Behan introduced it with these words: 'This song was written by a person who will never hear it recorded, because he's not in possession of a gramophone. He's ... he's ... pretty much of a tramp.'
Paul Anthony Noonan is a songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Lucan, County Dublin. He is best known as the frontman of the Irish group Bell X1 and as a solo artist and collaborator on various musical projects.
Seán Cannon is an Irish musician. Since 1982 he has been a guitarist for The Dubliners and their follow-up-band The Dublin Legends.
15 Years On is the eleventh studio album by the Irish folk band The Dubliners. This album was created to celebrate the band's 15th anniversary from the day they started music together. The album was released on the Chyme label in 1977. The album features 24 tracks on two records. In spite of having only nine previously unreleased tracks, it is still regarded as an original album.
Alive Alive-O is a double album by the Irish Folk Group The Dubliners which was recorded live throughout several Evenings in December 1996 in Germany at the end of their European tour. After the departure of Ronnie Drew, The Dubliners were joined by the famous Irish singer Paddy Reilly who lends his voice to several ballads on the album. John Sheahan's daughter Ceoladh guests with her father, duetting on fiddle with him on his composition, "Among Friends". The album is notable for some mixed German-English song introductions by Sean Cannon, causing widespread laughter among the audience.
Live At Vicar Street is a live album recorded by The Dubliners at a concert at Vicar Street in Dublin on Sunday, 23 July 2006 as part of their Irish tour. A DVD and double CD of the concert were released. Ceoladh Sheahan joined her father and the band on stage for a rendition of "The Marino Waltz". This was the first of the band's albums to feature Patsy Watchorn, who replaced Paddy Reilly after nine years with the group. They were introduced by Jim McCann.
Patrick Joseph "Sonny" Brogan was an Irish accordion player from the 1930s to the 1960s, and was one of Ireland's most popular traditional musicians. He was one of the earliest advocates of the two-row B/C button accordion in traditional music, and popularised it the 1950s and 60s. He originally played on a single-keyed Hohner melodeon, and later the two-row Paolo Soprani (pictured) which he used until he died. Sonny's Paolo Soprani was one of the rarest, the grey model, made in 1948, when the company still made them by hand. Offaly-born button box player Paddy O'Brien currently has Sonny's accordion.
Patsy Watchorn is an Irish folk singer. He is notable for being a member of the Dublin City Ramblers and later The Dubliners.
TheDublin City Ramblers is an Irish folk band, originally formed by the name of The Quare Fellas in 1970. The band has had a long line of members and Sean McGuinness is the only current member of the original line-up, that also included Patsy Watchorn later member of The Dubliners.
The discography of The Dubliners, an Irish folk band with record sales in excess of 30 million. Their discography consists of nineteen studio albums, twenty-four compilation albums, twenty-three singles and a number of other appearances. The Dubliners as of 2019 now tour under the name The Dublin Legends.
Bob Lynch was an Irish folk musician from Dublin. He first became notable as a member of The Dubliners from 1964 to 1965 until he left to pursue a solo career in North America.
The Young European Strings (YES) School of Music is located in Dublin, Ireland and specialises in the early development and training of young professional musicians. The YES School of Music provides tuition for the violin, viola, cello and double bass. The Young European Strings Chamber Orchestra (YESCO) has performed throughout Europe and has released three albums to date.
The Dubliners 50th Anniversary Tour was a tour in 2012 by The Dubliners celebrating 50 years. The group was awarded a lifetime achievement award by BBC Radio 2 in February. However, in April, founding member and tenor banjo player Barney McKenna died. Banjo player Gerry O'Connor filled his place until the end of the tour. In November the group released the album 50 Years charting in the Irish Top 10. John Sheahan after 48 years decided he could no longer continue with the band due to the death of Barney McKenna. In December the group played its final concerts at Vicar Street and were joined on stage by Jim McCann. The band met with President Michael Higgins in the presidential palace in Dublin. The group appeared on BBC's Jools Holland Annual Hootenanny on New Year's Eve. With the exception of John Sheahan, the rest of the group continues touring as The Dublin Legends - Spirit of the Dubliners.
