The Chieftains

The Chieftains Bio

The Chieftains are an Irish musical group founded in 1962, known for performing and popularizing Irish traditional music. The band has recorded many albums of instrumental Irish folk music, as well as multiple collaborations with popular musicians of many genres, including Country music, Galician traditional music, Cape Breton and Newfoundland music, and rock and roll. They have performed with Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Sin�ad O'Connor, James Galway, and numerous Country-western artists. In 1975, the group won praise for their playing of ''Women of Ireland'' for Stanley Kubrick's movie ''Barry Lyndon''.

They have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. In 2002 they were given a ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' by the United Kingdom|UK's BBC Radio 2. The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.

Band members

Paddy Moloney is the band's leader, and composes or arranges most of the band's music. While the band's members changed numerous times in the band's early history, the membership solidified in 1976 when Kevin Conneff replaced Peadar Mercier. From then until 2002, members included:

* Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion, bodhr�n)
* Matt Molloy (flute, tin whistle)
* Kevin Conneff (bodhr�n, vocals)
* Se�n Keane (fiddle, tin whistle)
* Martin Fay (fiddle, bones)
* Derek Bell (musician)|Derek Bell (Irish harp, keyboard instruments, oboe)

In 2002, Fay retired from active membership and Bell died.

Discography

All albums are available worldwide from www.claddaghrecords.com (More Info)
* ''Chieftains 1'' (1963)
* ''Chieftains 2'' (1969)
* ''Chieftains 3'' (1971)
* ''Chieftains 4'' (1973)
* ''Chieftains 5'' (1975)
* ''Chieftains 6 - Bonaparte's Retreat'' (1976)
* ''Chieftains 7'' (1977)
* ''Chieftains 8'' (1978)
* ''Chieftains 9 - Boil the Breakfast Early'' (1979)
* ''Chieftains 10 - Cotton-Eyed Joe'' (1981)
* ''The Year of the French'' (1982)
* ''Concert Orchestra'' (1982)
* ''The Chieftains in China'' (1985)
* ''Celtic Wedding'' (1987)
* ''A Chieftains Celebration'' (1989)
* ''Bells of Dublin'' (1991)
* ''Another Country'' (1992)
* ''The Long Black Veil'' (1995)
* ''Santiago'' (1996)
* ''Fire in the Kitchen'' (1998)
* ''Tears of Stone'' (1999)
* ''Water From the Well'' (2000)
* ''The Wide World Over'' (2002)
* ''Live From Dublin'' (2005)

Former members

Other former members include:
* David Fallon (bodhr�n)
* Ronnie McShane (percussion)
* Peadar Mercier (bodhr�n, bones)
* Sean � Riada (harpsichord)
* Se�n Potts (tin whistle, bones, bodhr�n)
* Michael Tubridy (flute, concertina, and tin whistle)

Sound samples

* of The Chieftains and Ziggy Marley covering Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"

Copyright Citations

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