Sharon Shannon is a
young accordion player from Co. Clare,
Ireland who has had huge success both in her
solo career and with A Woman's Heart and the
Waterboys.
Growing up in the village of Ruan (near
Corofin) she was continually exposed to folk
traditional music. Her parents were set
dancers and all four of the children played
instruments, starting with tin whistles; she
started the accordion when she was 11 and
also performs on fiddle and melodeon. She
played through school and afterwards; her
first big recognition was in her teens, when
she played Jim Sheridans' production of
Brendan Behan's "The Hostage" for
the Druid Theatre Company.
She was a founder member of the traditional
band Arcady. She left them to play solo, and
began to record her first album at a weekend
session at Winkles Hotel in Kinvara in May
1989. Some of the top names in Irish music
dropped in on the session, including Gerry O'
Beirne, Donal Lunny, Adam Clayton of U2, Mary
Custy, Eoin O' Neill, her sister Mary, and
Steve Wickam and Mike Scott of the Waterboys.
Within two weeks she had joined Mike in the
Waterboys, and stayed with them for a year
and a half until the band broke up. She then
toured with Christy Moore for a while before
coming back to the album, finishing it off in
Dublin's Windmill Lane, with an impressive
list of guests: Liam O' Maonlai, Maire
Breathnach, Stephen Cooney, Waterboys Anthony
Thistlehwaite and Trevor Hutchinson, Tommy
Hayes, Philip King and Noel Bridgeman.
The album was a huge success in Ireland,
selling over 50,000 copies. Further success
came with her participation in A Woman's
Heart, a group made up of Sharon, along with
Maura O'Connell, Frances and Mary Black,
Dolores Keane, and Eleanor McEvoy. The groups
album became an all-time hit in Ireland,
selling an almost unprecidented 200,000
copies. In 1992, The Late Late Show,
Ireland's most popular television show
dedicated a full show to her music, with
guests from the album and A Woman's Heart.
Such theme shows are rare: I think it took
the Chieftains 25 years before they had such
an accolade!
She has toured heavily in the US and Europe
with her own band, consisting of
fellow-Waterboy Trevor Hutchinson on Bass,
Gerry O' Beirne (Patrick St.) on guitar and
one of several fiddle players - Mary Custy,
Maire Breathnach and Paul Kelly have all
played with her.
In 1995, her follow-up album Out the Gap hit
the streets; vivacious as ever, it sees her
moving away from the traditional side of
things, with a more rocky beat, attributed to
production by reggae producer Dennis Bovell.
"Each Little Thing" was released in
mid-97, and continued the experimental fusion
note, including a much commented upon dance
remix.
She has continued to play solo, as well as
with her new band the Woodchoppers (with Mary
Shannon on mandolin and fiddle, Liz and
Yvonne Kane on fiddle, Jim Murray on guitar
and Tony Molloy on bass), and with the rocked
up Coolfin, fronted by Donal Lunny.
Spellbound was released in 1999, and consists
of a good collection of her earlier pieces,
and a few new cuts. Another successful
traditional album followed and 2003 saw the
release of Libertango, a cross-over album
keeping the traditional music but adding some
pop influences. All of the tracks are
collaborations with other artists including
Sinead O'Connor. What You Make It (Da Da Da
Da) is her most obviously pop tune ever, but
believe it or not it was an attempt to turn
another tune on her album, a reel in the more
traditional Irish folk music style, into an
up to date pop song by adding a beat and a
rap verse and chorus
