Larry Kirwan

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Larry Kirwan
Larry Kirwan In 2006.jpg
Background information
Born1954 (age 69–70) [1]
Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland
Instrument(s) Vocals

Larry Kirwan (born 1948 in Wexford, County Wexford) is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the rock band, Black 47, and conceiver/co-writer of Paradise Square, the Broadway Musical for which he received a Tony Award nomination. [2]

Contents

Prior to Black 47, Kirwan and fellow Wexfordian Pierce Turner were the house band in Malachy McCourt's Bells of Hell in Greenwich Village. Their music was a blend of folk, trad, progressive rock, Celtic rock and punk. Turner & Kirwan of Wexford was one of the few groups banned from CBGB’s. In the words of Hilly Kristal they were "too demonic". They then led the new wave band Major Thinkers for some years. Their song Avenue B (is the place to be) became a radio hit whereupon they were signed to Epic-Portrait Records. They recorded an album: Terrible Beauty, that was never released and after a performance in Irving Plaza on St. Patrick's Day 1985 they disbanded.[ citation needed ]

Kirwan then devoted himself to playwriting and the theatre. However, he continued to play improvisational music behind the poet, Copernicus, and in June 1989, the Copernicus band toured West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, and the USSR. He also formed Chill Faction with Thomas Hamlin, Major Thinkers drummer, and members of the Copernicus band, Fred Parcells, David Conrad, and Mike Fazio, all of whom would go on to play and record with Black 47.[ citation needed ]

Kirwan has written 20 plays and musicals, most of which have been performed in the United States and Europe. The plays often deal with Irish and New York history and politics. The most often produced is Liverpool Fantasy (If The Beatles hadn’t made it). Five of the plays: Liverpool Fantasy, Days of Rage, Mister Parnell, Blood and Night in the Garden are published in the book, Mad Angels.

Kirwan collaborated on a musical: Transport, with Australian author Thomas Keneally that was produced at The Irish Repertory Theater in NYC in 2014. On April 3, 2022 his Broadway debut Paradise Square opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre after successful runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2019 and at The Nederlander Theatre in Chicago 2021.[ citation needed ]

Kirwan formed Black 47 with Chris Byrne in late 1989 after a jam in Paddy Reilly's Pub in Manhattan. The band has released 16 CDs including Fire of Freedom (1993) containing the hit Funky Ceili; Iraq (2008) and Bankers and Gangsters (2010). Black 47 performed approximately 2500 shows before disbanding Nov. 14th, 2014 after their final gig at BB Kings in Manhattan.[ citation needed ]

Since April 2005, he has hosted Celtic Crush, a radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio that features artists from the 8 Celtic nations who play a wide variety of genres. He also writes a weekly column for the Irish Echo . He has published several books, including a novel version of Liverpool Fantasy and Rockin' The Bronx, the latter of which was published in February 2010. His latest novel, Rockaway Blue, was published in 2021 by Three Hills/Cornell University Press.

In 2013, he co-produced a various artists compilation for Valley Entertainment titled Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion . [3]

Criticism

His band has been described as 'the musical wing of the IRA’, [4] [5] which was a paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland and was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland. The IRA have been held responsible for the killing of 1,705 people during The Troubles. [6]

Discography

Larry Kirwan visiting Barnes & Noble Tribeca's yearly Tribute to James Joyce. LarryKirwanimage.JPG
Larry Kirwan visiting Barnes & Noble Tribeca's yearly Tribute to James Joyce.

Bibliography

Plays and Musicals

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References

  1. ↑ "Larry Kirwan." Archived 31 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine Biographical note for Irish American Oral History interview held at NYU's Ireland House.
  2. ↑ "The noughties, a decade of great Irish American music | IrishCentral". 13 January 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion". Valley Entertainment. Archived from the original on 26 February 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ "Accidental concert shooting and car crashes - Life on the road continues for Black 47". IrishCentral.com. 17 May 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Quilligan, Michael (2013). Understanding Shadows: The Corrupt Use of Intelligence. Clarity Press. ISBN 978-0985335397.
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