Party: Sharon Shannon

Party: Sharon Shannon

"Sharon Shannon the button accordion player from Co Clare,Ireland has recorded and toured with a who's who of the Irish and Global Music Industry, including Bono, Adam Clayton, Sinead O’Connor, Jackson Browne, John Prine ,Steve Earle, The RTE Concert Orchestra, The Chieftains, The Waterboys, Willie Nelson, Nigel Kennedy, Alison Krauss and Shane MacGowan.Her 12 studio recorded albums to date have all been very different and ground breaking mixing traditional Irish with reggae, country, Native American,
bluegrass, rap, dance, African, French Canadian.

The genre-defying star has had multi-platinum album sales and has had several number one albums, singles and DVDs in her home country. Her album Galway Girl went 4 times platinum in Ireland with the title track winning her the Meteor award two years running for the most downloaded song.

Sharon grew up in a rural community and was part of a family that all play musical instruments and traditional Irish music.

However, her career took an massive upward trajectory when in the late 80s she was asked to joined the seminal rock band The Waterboys. Her first show with that band ,to an audience of 50,000 ,was the on main stage at perhaps the most well-known music festival on earth-Glastonbury.

Her subsequent debut album was released worldwide and was to become the biggest selling record by a traditional artiste in Ireland.

She has entertained US Presidents Clinton at the White House and Obama in Dublin and Irish Presidents Robinson and MacAleese on presidential visits to Poland and Australia respectively. She recently accompanied Irish president Michael D. Higgins on his official tour of China

Among the many awards she has received including Hot Press and Meteor Awards ,She also celebrates being the youngest ever recipient of the Meteor Lifetime Achievement Award.

She received an IBAM Award in Chicago in 2015 for her ‘unique contribution to Irish Music’. Other recipients were Darina Allen and actor Liam Neeson.

Her music has been featured in several Hollywood movies and she also played a cameo role in the Neil Jordan movie ‘Ondine’. She has worked on a stage production of JM Synges ‘ The Playboy of the Western World’ which was directed by Jim Sheridan.

She co-wrote and produced an album with the High Kings in 2013 Currently working on a book on her life, she is also writing material for a new album to be released in 2017. This will be her first studio album in four years although she has recorded with many artistes in the intervening years.

Sharon is also a passionate animal lover and does a lot of voluntary work and fundraising for various animal rescues. A vegetarian for many years, Sharon recently adopted the vegan diet and has launched a vegan brand called’ Sharon Shannons Garden of Vegan’ . This was spearheaded by a vegan food truck which got its first commercial outgoing at the 1916 Centenary Celebrations in Dublin on Easter Monday 2016.

As part of a European tour, Sharon will perform at a handful of UK venues during November 2016. She will be joined by Jim Murray, acoustic guitar/ Sean Regan fiddle vocals and percussion and Alan Connor piano, electric guitar, percussion and vocals."