Leo Moran is best known as lead guitarist and sometimes vocalist in the Irish folk rock band The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors are an Irish rock band. Formed in 1986 in Tuam, County Galway, they have achieved eighteen Top 30 singles in Ireland, including three number ones. Their first number one, "I Useta Lover," topped the Irish charts for nine consecutive weeks in 1990, and still holds the record for the...

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Born in Tuam

Tuam

Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...

 in Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

, Moran studied French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 at the National University of Ireland, Galway

National University of Ireland, Galway

The National University of Ireland, Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland...

. He later trained as a secondary teacher and earned a higher diploma in education. At Galway, he met several prominent figures in the area's music scene, including Padraig Boran and Ollie Jennings, who would become the Saw Doctors' manager. In addition, he played in a local reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 band, Too Much For The White Man. Eventually, Moran formed the Saw Doctors with Davy Carton

Davy Carton

Davy Carton is a singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist from Tuam, County Galway, in the Republic of Ireland. He is best known as a core member of the Saw Doctors, the folk-rock band he co-founded with Leo Moran and others in 1987....

 of Blaze X

Blaze X

Blaze X were an Irish punk band. The band was formed in Tuam, Co. Galway. They released a successful single in 1980, Some Hope which became Larry Gogan's Hit song of the week on 2FM. It's b-side, Rippy, about serial killer The Yorkshire Ripper was banned by the RTE. Their finest moment came when...

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Moran has a son named Jimmy, who lives in salthill. He lives with his partner Eleanor (of the famous musical Joyce clan) in Tuam.