[Photo: Annika Johansson]
Another national treasure we should be proud of is Sharon Shannon. Born June 8th, 1968, this Irish musician is best known for her work with the button accordion and her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. In 1991, Shannon released her self-titled debut LP, which was 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. Shannon was born in Ruan, County Clare. At eight years old, she began performing with Disirt Tola, a local band, with which she toured the United States at the age of fourteen. Shannon also worked as a competitive show jumper, but gave it up at 16 to focus on music. She similarly abandoned studying at University College Cork.
During the mid-’80s, 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. This led to Shannon’s joining their band, The Waterboys. She was with the band for 18 months, and contributed both accordion and fiddle to their Room to Roam album. Her first world tour was with The Waterboys. She left the group shortly after Wickham’s departure, as the band was forced back to a more rock and roll sound.
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.Shannon features playing accordion on The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra single “Bangarang”, which also features Dawn Penn as vocalist. It was released on 26 May 2014. In October 2018, NUI Galway awarded Shannon an honorary doctoral.
You will hear a lot more from Sharon I am sure when this Coronavirus is over.