Christy Moore Tickets

Christy Moore
One of contemporary Irish music's best singer-songwriters Christopher Andrew 'Christy' Moore helped to bring the musical traditions of Ireland up to modern standards. As a solo singer-songwriter, Moore has continued to add elements of rock and popular music to his well-crafted, tradition-based tunes and has been a major inspiration to such modern Irish artists as U2, Sinead O'Connor and the Pogues.

Born in Newbridge, County Kildare, in 1945 Moore began to sing professionally in 1966 after leaving a job in a bank. From then he performed in folk clubs throughout the United Kingdom. He recorded solo albums, was a founding member of Planxty and later of Moving Hearts. Then in 1983 went back to solo performing.

Traditional Irish music had little influence on Moore's early music. Trained in old-time pop tunes and religious music, Moore was inspired as a teenager by the rock & roll of American artists including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. It wasn't until he had moved to London, where he heard Irish folk songs sung in Irish ghettos, that he became aware of the musical traditions of his homeland. Acquiring an acoustic guitar and Irish drum (bodhran), Moore began busking in the streets. Moore continued to attract attention with his original, folk-like songs after returning to Ireland in the late 1960s. Moore's debut solo album, Paddy on the Road, was released in 1969.

Moore assembled a band in 1972 while recording his third album, Prosperous, that evolved into Planxty. The group's fusion of Celtic music and high-energy rock made Planxty one of Ireland's most influential bands. With Moore singing lead in his heavily accented brogue and playing rhythm guitar and bodhran, Planxty brought together such top-ranked Irish musicians as Donal Lunny (guitar, bouzouki, bottleneck bouzouki), Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, whistle) and Andy Irvine (mandolin, mouth organ). Although he left Planxty in 1974, Moore returned when the band's original lineup reunited in 1979. He remained with Planxty until 1983, when it evolved into a new band, Moving Hearts. Moore served as frontman for Moving Hearts until leaving to resume his solo career in 1985.

He returned to the folk format and with Donal Lunny in support, produced the album The Time Has Come in 1983 and Ride On in 1984. Moore is known for his political and social commentary, which reflects a leftwing Irish Republican perspective. Many songs have a political coloring. His album Ride On and The Spirit of Freedom (1985) included strong republican songs at a time when younger people in the South were turning strongly against the Provisional IRA's war campaign. Included with the witty numbers such as Lisdoonvarna were songs about hunger striker Bobby Sands. He ceased to support the Provos after the bombing atrocity in Enniskillen. His later albums were made up of more contemporary and pensive songs, utilising writers like Johnny Mulhern, Wally Page Johnny Duhan and Jimmy McCarthy.

In 1991 he became the first solo artist to sell out ten consecutive nights at the huge Point Theatre, Dublin. Live at the Point, released in 1995, captures the excitement of Moore's concerts as well as his solo performance at the Theater. In 1994 he was the subject of a Late Late Show tribute on Teilifis Eireann and in 1996 he released Graffiti Tongue. It included his own compositions and a song North and South of the River, co-penned with Bono of U2, which reflected the mood of reconciliation leading up to the Northern truce.

His solo recordings between 1981 and 1991 were anthologized on The Christy Moore Collection, released in 1991. Moore's 1985 album Voyage featured backing vocals by Sinead O'Connor, Elvis Costello and Mary Black, plus accordion player Shamus Shannon. Individual songs he has written throughout his career include 'On the Blanket' about the protests of republican prisoners, 'Viva la Quinta Brigada' about Irish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, 'Minds Locked Shut' about Bloody Sunday in Derry, 'El Salvador' and 'Biko Drum'. Moore has endorsed a long list of left wing support causes ranging from El Salvador, to Mary Robinson in the 1990 Presidential Election. At Glastonbury Festival in 2005 he sang about the Palestinian solidarity activist Rachel Corrie.

Due to his declining health and other medical reasons Moore, who channels much energy into his art, has been requested to not produce any more work. For this reason the volume of work produced since 1999 has declined dramatically.

With typical Moore social consciousness, he opened the festival marking Ballymun's inception as Dublin's first Fairtrade Town on November 23 2006. Ballymun, once synonymous with social deprivation and drug problems, is currently the largest urban regeneration project in northern Europe. In June 2007, Christy was guest on Desert Island Discs, a BBC programme that is often considered an accolade. He selected mainly Irish folk music that had inspired him and spoke frankly of personal and political issues that had shaped his life.

Moore also published his autobiography in 2000, One Voice, in which he takes about 250 songs that he has either written, made famous or simply likes hearing and has woven a story of his life around them.
 

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