Sharon Shannon
Encyclopedia
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician
. She is best known for her work with the accordion
and for her fiddle
technique. She also plays the tin whistle
and melodeon
. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there. Beginning with Irish folk music, her work demonstrates a wide-ranging number of musical influences, including reggae
, cajun music
, Portuguese music, and French Canadian music
. Her single What You Make It (da, da, da, da) featured hip hop music
artists. She won the lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.
at age fourteen.
Shannon also worked as a competitive showjumper
, but gave it up at age sixteen to focus on her performing music.
Shannon similarly abandoned studying at University College Cork.
In the mid-1980s, Shannon studied the accordion with Karen Tweed
and the fiddle with Frank Custy, and performed with the band Arcady, of which she was a founding member.
Shannon began her own recording career in 1989, working with producer John Dunford and musicians such as Adam Clayton
, Mike Scott
and Steve Wickham
. The work with Scott and Wickham led to Shannon's joining their band, The Waterboys
. Shannon was with the band for eighteen months, and contributed both accordion and fiddle to their Room to Roam
album. Her first world tour was with The Waterboys. Like Wickham, she left the group when Scott and group member Anthony Thistlethwaite
wanted to move the band back to a more rock and roll
sound.
Shannon's solo work has achieved remarkable airplay and commercial success, especially in Ireland
. After her inclusion on A Woman's Heart
, a compilation album
and a tribute to her work on The Late Late Show
, Shannon's music received a great deal of exposure, contributing to the record-breaking sales of her debut album.
Sharon's second album, Out The Gap (1994), was produced by Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell
and had a distinctly reggae
feel.
Sharon's track, "Cavan Potholes", written by Dónal Lunny
is featured on the 1996 compilation Common Ground: Voices of Modern Irish Music. Other stars on the album include Sinéad O'Connor
, Elvis Costello
, Kate Bush
and Bono
.
Sharon's fourth album titled "Spellbound" was released in September 1998. This compilation featured new material, live tracks and also tracks from previous albums.
Also in 1998 Sharon was asked by violinist Nigel Kennedy
to join a him in performing on his "Jimi Hendrix Suite", later performing this work in some major European cities.
Her 2000 album, The Diamond Mountain Sessions, which included vocals from a wide variety of artists, was also a commercial success, being certified triple platinum.
Shannon recorded with Steve Earle
on the song "The Galway Girl", which was released on both Earle's album Transcendental Blues
, and Shannon & Friends' The Diamond Mountain Sessions. Both albums were released in 2000.
Another collaboration with Earle was the instrumental
"Dominic Street", released on Earle's 2002 album Sidetracks. Shannon has also worked with Jackson Browne
, the band Coolfin, Dónal Lunny
, Moya Brennan
, Kirsty MacColl
, Christy Moore
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Liam O'Maonlai, and John Prine
, amongst others.
and the late Kirsty MacColl
.
In 2005, she appeared on Tunes, a collaboration with Frankie Gavin, Michael McGoldrick
, and Jim Murray.
In 2006 a celebration of 15 years of recording came out with The Sharon Shannon Collection 1990-2005 .
In 2007 Shannon has worked with Belinda Carlisle
for her album Voila
.
As a solo musician, Sharon Shannon has toured Australia
, Europe
, Hong Kong
, and Japan
. She has also performed for politicians such as Bill Clinton
, Mary Robinson
and Lech Wałęsa
. Shannon has played benefit concerts for causes that she supports, such as animal welfare
.
She continues to record her music and perform with her tour band, The Woodchoppers. A live version of Galway Girl recorded with Mundy
was the most downloaded track in Ireland in 2007, winning a Meteor Award.
In 2008, Shannon featured in the Transatlantic Sessions.
In 2009, she played "Galway Girl" live at the Meteor Music Awards 2009, where she also picked up a Lifetime Achievement Award and won Most Downloaded Track again for Galway Girl with Mundy.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
. She is best known for her work with the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and for her fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
technique. She also plays the tin whistle
Tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
and melodeon
Melodeon (organ)
A melodeon is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. It differs from the related harmonium, which uses a pressure bellows. Melodeons were manufactured in the United States sometime after 1812 until the Civil War era...
. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there. Beginning with Irish folk music, her work demonstrates a wide-ranging number of musical influences, including 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...
, cajun music
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
, Portuguese music, and French Canadian music
Music of Quebec
Being a modern cosmopolitan society, today, all types of music can be found in the Canadian province of Quebec. What is specific to Quebec though are traditional songs, a unique variety of Celtic music, legions of excellent jazz musicians, a culture of classical music, and a love of foreign rhythms...
. Her single What You Make It (da, da, da, da) featured hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
artists. She won the lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.
Early life
At eight years old, Shannon began performing with Disirt Tola, a band from County Clare. With Disirt Tola, Shannon toured the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at age fourteen.
Shannon also worked as a competitive showjumper
Horse show
A Horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and...
, but gave it up at age sixteen to focus on her performing music.
Shannon similarly abandoned studying at University College Cork.
In the mid-1980s, Shannon studied the accordion with Karen Tweed
Karen Tweed
Karen Tweed is a piano accordionist from London, England.-Biography:Tweed began to play the piano accordion at the age of 11, studying from button and piano accordion virtuoso John Whelan, and went on to win the first of 5 all-Ireland championships in 1977...
and the fiddle with Frank Custy, and performed with the band Arcady, of which she was a founding member.
Early recording career - The Waterboys
Adam Clayton
Adam Charles Clayton is a musician, best known as the bassist of the Irish rock band U2. Clayton has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965...
, Mike Scott
Mike Scott (musician)
Michael 'Mike' Scott is the founding member, lead singer and chief songwriter of rock band The Waterboys. He has also produced two solo albums, Bring 'em All In and Still Burning...
and Steve Wickham
Steve Wickham
Steve Wickham is an Irish musician described by Mike Scott as "the world's greatest rock fiddle player" and by New Musical Express as a "fiddling legend." Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home, Wickham has appeared on recordings by Elvis Costello, the Hothouse Flowers, Sinéad...
. The work with Scott and Wickham led to Shannon's joining their band, The Waterboys
The Waterboys
The Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...
. Shannon was with the band for eighteen months, and contributed both accordion and fiddle to their Room to Roam
Room to Roam
Room to Roam is an album by The Waterboys; it continued the folk-rock sound of 1988's Fisherman's Blues, but was less of a commercial success, reaching one-hundred and eighty on the Billboard Top 200 after its release in September 1990. Critical response continues to be mixed...
album. Her first world tour was with The Waterboys. Like Wickham, she left the group when Scott and group member Anthony Thistlethwaite
Anthony Thistlethwaite
Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a founder member of the folk-rock group The Waterboys and later as a long-standing member of Irish rock band The Saw Doctors.After a year busking in Paris, playing tenor saxophone around the streets of the Latin...
wanted to move the band back to a more rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
sound.
First solo recordings
Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there.Shannon's solo work has achieved remarkable airplay and commercial success, especially in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. After her inclusion on A Woman's Heart
A Woman's Heart
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...
, a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
and a tribute to her work on The Late Late Show
The Late Late Show
The Late Late Show, sometimes referred to as The Late Late, or in some cases by the acronym LLS, is the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster and the official flagship television programme of Irish broadcasting company RTÉ...
, Shannon's music received a great deal of exposure, contributing to the record-breaking sales of her debut album.
Sharon's second album, Out The Gap (1994), was produced by Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell
Dennis Bovell
Dennis Bovell is a reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer. He was a member of the British reggae band Matumbi, and released dub-reggae records under his own name as well as the pseudonym 'Blackbeard'....
and had a distinctly 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...
feel.
Sharon's track, "Cavan Potholes", written by Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
is featured on the 1996 compilation Common Ground: Voices of Modern Irish Music. Other stars on the album include Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
and Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
.
Sharon's fourth album titled "Spellbound" was released in September 1998. This compilation featured new material, live tracks and also tracks from previous albums.
Also in 1998 Sharon was asked by violinist Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
to join a him in performing on his "Jimi Hendrix Suite", later performing this work in some major European cities.
Her 2000 album, The Diamond Mountain Sessions, which included vocals from a wide variety of artists, was also a commercial success, being certified triple platinum.
Shannon recorded with Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
on the song "The Galway Girl", which was released on both Earle's album Transcendental Blues
Transcendental Blues
Transcendental Blues is an album released in 2000 by Steve Earle. It features Sharon Shannon on the track "The Galway Girl". The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contempory Folk Album category.-Track listing:...
, and Shannon & Friends' The Diamond Mountain Sessions. Both albums were released in 2000.
Another collaboration with Earle was the instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
"Dominic Street", released on Earle's 2002 album Sidetracks. Shannon has also worked with Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, the band Coolfin, Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
, Moya Brennan
Moya Brennan
Moya Brennan, born Máire Ní Bhraonáin , also known as Máire Brennan , is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist who began performing professionally in 1970, when her family formed the band Clannad, and is now widely considered as the "First Lady of Celtic Music"...
, Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
, Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Liam O'Maonlai, and John Prine
John Prine
John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
, amongst others.
Later work
In 2004 Sharon Shannon released the album Libertango with guest spots from Róisín Elsafty, Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
and the late Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
.
In 2005, she appeared on Tunes, a collaboration with Frankie Gavin, Michael McGoldrick
Michael McGoldrick
Michael McGoldrick is a flute and tin whistle player. He also plays the Uilleann pipes and low whistle. He is well known for his ability to skate switch and regular with the same level of ability.-Bands:...
, and Jim Murray.
In 2006 a celebration of 15 years of recording came out with The Sharon Shannon Collection 1990-2005 .
In 2007 Shannon has worked with Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
for her album Voila
Voila (album)
-Personnel:*Belinda Carlisle - vocals*Natacha Atlas - additional vocals on "Ma jeunesse fout le camp", "La Vie en rose", "Bonnie et Clyde" and "Des ronds dans l'eau"*Brian Eno - keyboards*Sagat Guirey - Flamenco guitar*Graham Henderson - accordion...
.
As a solo musician, Sharon Shannon has toured Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. She has also performed for politicians such as Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...
and Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
. Shannon has played benefit concerts for causes that she supports, such as animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
.
She continues to record her music and perform with her tour band, The Woodchoppers. A live version of Galway Girl recorded with Mundy
Mundy
Mundy is an Irish singer-songwriter. 'Mundy' is a nickname given to Enright, as it not only refers to his name Edmund, but it is how he pronounces the word "Monday".-Biography:...
was the most downloaded track in Ireland in 2007, winning a Meteor Award.
In 2008, Shannon featured in the Transatlantic Sessions.
In 2009, she played "Galway Girl" live at the Meteor Music Awards 2009, where she also picked up a Lifetime Achievement Award and won Most Downloaded Track again for Galway Girl with Mundy.
Albums
- Sharon Shannon (1991)
- Out the Gap (1994)
- Each Little Thing (1997)
- The Diamond Mountain Sessions (2000)
- Live in Galway (2002)
- Libertango (2003)
- Tunes (2005)
- collection 1990-2005 (2006)
- Live at Dolans CD & DVD (2007)
- Renegade (2007)
- Saints & Scoundrels (2009)
- upside down (2009)