The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.

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Name

The band's name came from the book Death of a Chieftain by Irish author John Montague. ^[1] Assisted early on by Garech Browne, they signed with his company Claddagh Records. They needed financial success abroad, and succeeded in this, as within a few years their third album's sleeve note section was printed in three languages.

Work

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 Carlos Núñez, Van Morrison, Bela Fleck, Siobhán O'Brien, Moya Brennan, Mark Knopfler, Loreena McKennitt, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roger Daltrey, Nanci Griffith, Tom Jones, Sinéad O'Connor, James Galway, The Corrs, Art Garfunkel, Sting, Rosanne Cash, Jim White, Tom Partington, Ziggy Marley, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, and numerous Country-western artists. In May 1986 they performed at Self Aid, a benefit concert held in Dublin that focused on the problem of chronic unemployment which was widespread in Ireland at that time. In 1994 they appeared in Roger Daltrey's production, album and video of A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who .

The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.

Success and recognition

The group have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. They have also won an Emmy and a Genie and contributed a couple of tracks, including their highly-praised version of the song Women of Ireland , to Leonard Rosenman's Oscar-winning score for Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon. In 2002 they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK's BBC Radio 2. Two of their singles have been minor hits. Have I Told You Lately (credited to The Chieftains with Van Morrison) reached number 71 in 1995. I Know My Love (credited to The Chieftains featuring The Corrs) reached number 37 in 2002.

Band members

Paddy Moloney is the band's founder and 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 1979 when Matt Molloy replaced Michael Tubridy. From then until 2002, members included:

• Paddy Moloney - uilleann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion, bodhrán
• Matt Molloy - flute, tin whistle
• Kevin Conneff - bodhrán, vocals
• Seán Keane - fiddle, tin whistle

Former members

• Martin Fay - fiddle, bones (retired in 2002)
• Derek Bell - Irish harp, keyboard instruments, oboe (died in 2002 due to complications following minor surgery)
• David Fallon - bodhrán
• Ronnie McShane - percussion
• Peadar Mercier - bodhrán, bones
• Seán Potts - tin whistle, bones, bodhrán
• Michael Tubridy - flute, concertina, tin whistle

Discography

• The Chieftains 1 (1963)
• The Chieftains 2 (1969)
• The Chieftains 3 (1971)
• The Chieftains 4 (1973)
• The Chieftains 5 (1975)
• The Chieftains 6: Bonaparte's Retreat (1976)
• The Chieftains 7 (1977)
• The Chieftains Live! (1977)
• The Chieftains 8 (1978)
• The Chieftains 9: Boil the Breakfast Early (1979)
• The Chieftains 10: Cotton-Eyed Joe (1981)
• The Year of the French (1982)
• The Grey Fox (1982) (soundtrack to The Grey Fox )
• Concert Orchestra (1982)
• The Chieftains in China (1985)
• Ballad of the Irish Horse (1986)
• Celtic Wedding (1987)

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• In Ireland (1987) (with James Galway)
• Irish Heartbeat (1988) (with Van Morrison)
• The Tailor Of Gloucester (1988)
• A Chieftains Celebration (1989)
• Over the Sea To Skye: The Celtic Connection (1990) (with James Galway)
• The Bells of Dublin (1991)
• Another Country (1992)
• An Irish Evening (1992)
• The Celtic Harp: A Tribute To Edward Bunting (1993) (with The Belfast Harp Orchestra)
• The Long Black Veil (1995)
• Film Cuts (1996)
• Santiago (1996)
• Long Journey Home (1998)
• Fire in the Kitchen (1998)
• Silent Night: A Christmas in Rome (1998)
• Tears of Stone (1999)
• Water From the Well (2000)
• The Wide World Over (2002)
• Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions (2002)
• Further Down the Old Plank Road (2003)
• Live From Dublin: A Tribute To Derek Bell (2005)
• The Essential Chieftains (2006)

References

1. the Chieftains - A Musical History