Ireland’s Popular Group is Back in Canada
Meet the women behind the angelic voices
The phenomenal Celtic Woman, about to embark on yet another world tour, is celebrating 12 years of success this year, with over 10 million albums… and 3 million tickets sold worldwide. Let’s meet these talented, virtuoso singers.
Máiréad Carlin
Mairead has been immersed in music since her early days: “Derry, my hometown, is a very cultured and very musical place. Wherever you turn, there’s always music,” she says. “That was especially true in my family. We’d just sit around the fire, sing, and drink tea. There was no alcohol involved, despite what people always think about the Irish!”
She has toured the UK and Ireland with legendary American singer-songwriter Don McLean (“American Pie”), including a sellout concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
“A motto I’ve used throughout my career so far,” she says, “is a quote from the award-winning poet Seamus Heaney: ‘Sing yourself to where the singing comes from.’ I think there’s a lot to be said for that.”
Susan McFadden
Susan trained from a young age at the famous Billie Barry Stage School, while performing in theatre and television. Landing her first professional lead role in Annie at the age of 11, she later toured in Ireland and the United States with Irish entertainers such as Tony Kenny, June Rogers, and Noel V Ginnity.
Susan won the reality ITV show Grease Is the Word. The prize? Playing Sandy in the West End production of Grease! Susan then played Serena in the original cast for the UK premier of Legally Blonde the Musical and subsequently took over the lead of Elle Woods.
Éabha McMahon
Éabha is a fluent Irish speaker and was brought up singing and speaking Irish at home in Dublin. She studied sean nós singing, a traditional style of Irish song, under famous singers such as Máire Ní Choilm, Séamus Mac Mathúna, Moya Brennan, and Íde Mac Mathúna.
In that year, Éabha was approached to audition for Anúna, a famous Irish choir that is celebrating 30 years this year and was the original choir for Riverdance in the 1990s. She toured with Anúna in 2006 in the US, where the Anúna Christmas Memories DVD was recorded for PBS and reached the top 10 in the Billboard charts that year.
Tara McNeill
Tara is only the second violinist to ever join Celtic Woman and the first instrumentalist to play an additional instrument, the harp. She also sings.
Tara has toured Canada, China, Japan, and Holland as both a singer and solo violinist with the vocal group Anúna. She is also the solo violinist on their album Illumination. In Celtic Woman’s 2015 TV special Destiny, Tara appears playing the harp.
Celtic Woman will be an unforgettable night of Celtic and pop music. Get your tickets for this fantastic show here!