Paul Brady

Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947)[1]  is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. He initially collaborated with several major bands, prior to launching a successful solo career.

Initially popular for playing traditional Irish music in a duo with Andy Irvine and later with Tommy Peoples and Matt Molloy, he later turned to a more rock-inspired electric style with poignant political lyrics. Some of his most popular songs are: "Crazy Dreams", "Nothing but the Same Old Story", "The Island", "Night Hunting", "Steel Claw", and "Paradise is Here".[2]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Early life  ==Early life[ edit] == Brady was born in the small town of Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on the border with County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. His father Seán Brady was a music teacher teaching the flute. Brady was educated at Sion Mills Primary School, St. Columb's College, Derry and University College Dublin.[3] He is prominently featured in the documentary film The Boys of St. Columb’s.[citation needed]
 * 2 Musical career
 * 2.1 1960s and 1970s
 * 2.2 Solo career
 * 3 Awards
 * 4 Discography
 * 4.1 Albums
 * 4.2 DVDs
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

He began learning piano around age six and by the age of eleven he had begun to play guitar, spending hours of his school holidays learning every tune the Shadows and The Ventures recorded. He was also strongly influenced by Chuck Berry.

In 1963, Brady began performing as a hotel piano player in Bundoran, Donegal. In October 1964, he attended University College Dublin and performed with a string of RnB groups, covering songs by the likes of Ray Charles and James Brown. The first of these was 'The Inmates' (late 1964-about April 1965), which evolved into 'The Kult' (about April–December 1965), featuring Brady, Jackie McAuley (ex-Them, and future Belfast Gypsies and Trader Horne), Brendan Bonass, and Dave Pennefather. Brady can be seen in the film Charlie Is My Darling waiting outside Dublin's Adelphi Theatre for the Rolling Stones' 3 September 1965 concert. He next joined 'Rootzgroup' (late 1965-May 1966) and 'Rockhouse' (about May–December 1966).[4] ==Musical career<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===1960s and 1970s<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">During his time at college in Dublin, the country saw a huge rise in interest in traditional Irish music. Brady joined the popular Irish band The Johnstons when Michael Johnston left in May 1967. They moved toLondon, UK in 1969 and subsequently to New York City in 1972 to expand their audience. Despite some success, Brady returned to Ireland in 1974 to join the Irish group Planxty. This was the band that was to launch the solo careers of Andy Irvine, Liam O'Flynn, Dónal Lunny, and Christy Moore. Planxty dissolved and from 1976 to 1978 he played as a duo with Irvine, a relationship which produced Andy Irvine and Paul Brady, an album that was hugely successful and garnered much critical acclaim. The next few years saw him establish his popularity and reputation as one of Ireland's best interpreters of traditional songs. His versions of ballads like Arthur McBride and The Lakes of Pontchartrain were considered definitive and are still popular at concerts today. In 1975 in New York he recorded three albums forShanachie Records as guitar accompanist to resident Irish fiddlers Andy McGann, Paddy Reynolds and John Vesey. He also recorded a 1976 album for the same label with Irish fiddler Tommy Peoples.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mathieson_5-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] ===Solo career<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1978, Brady released his first solo album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  which won him critical acclaim and was awarded the Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year. However, it would prove to be Brady's last album covering traditional material. He decided to delve into pop and rock music, and released his first album of this genre in 1981, Hard Station. The completely self-penned record received mixed reviews; some fans of his older traditional material were not convinced, while the majority recognised his great talent of writing rock music.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Brady released a number of successful solo albums throughout the 1980s: True For You (1983), Back to the Centre (1985), and Primitive Dance (1987). By the end of the decade, Brady was recognised and accepted as a respected performer and songwriter.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  His songs were being covered by a number of other artists, including Santana and Dave Edmunds (see his official website for a full list of artists who have covered his songs). Contrary to what is often written, Brady doesn't write for other artists but for his own self-expression; other artists pick up on his songs because of their inherent quality.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  When Tina Turner heard a demo of his song "Paradise Is Here", she recorded it for her Break Every Rule album of 1986. By now, he was a favourite songwriter among such artists asBob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt, who would do a duet with Brady on his 1991 LP, Trick or Treat. A couple of Brady songs soon appeared on Raitt's album Luck of the Draw, including the title track.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Bob Dylan was sufficiently impressed by Brady's work to name-check him in the booklet of his 1985 box set, Biograph. The actual quote was "(...) people get too famous too fast these days and it destroys them. Some guys got it down-Leonard Cohen, Paul Brady, Lou Reed, secret heroes, John Prine, David Allen Coe, Tom Waits. I listen more to that kind of stuff than whatever is popular at the moment. They’re not just witchdoctoring up the planet, they don’t set up barriers (...)". Again, contrary to what has become accepted fact, Bob Dylan never said that Paul Brady was "one of the five artists worth getting out of bed for"; that was a paraphrase of the original quote by a journalist in an 80's UK music paper.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Since his Hard Station album (1981), Brady was on various major labels until he created his own label, PeeBee Music, in the late 90s. He released three albums in the 1990s: Trick or Treat, Songs & Crazy Dreams (a remixed compilation of earlier songs) and Spirits Colliding, which were met with critical acclaim.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Trick or Treat was on Fontana/Mercury Records and received a lot of promotion. As a result, some critics considered it his debut album and noted that the record benefited from the expertise of experienced studio musicians, as well as producer Gary Katz, who worked with the rock groupSteely Dan. Rolling Stone, after praising Brady's earlier but less-known solo records, called Trick or Treat Brady's "most compelling collection."<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Brady has gone on to record several other albums (15 in total since he went solo in 1978) and collaborated with a number of other established musicians including Bonnie Raitt and Richard Thompson (a complete list of his many collaborations is given at his website). In 2006, he collaborated with Cara Dillon on the track "The Streets of Derry" from her album After the Morning. He has also worked withFiachra Trench.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">He performed Gaelic songs as a character in the 2002 Matthew Barney film Cremaster 3. He also played tin whistle on the single "One" by Greg Pearle in 2008, from the album Beautiful You, a collaboration between Greg Pearle and John Illsley; this song featured in the 2008 film Anton, directed by Graham Cantwell.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Brady's fifteenth studio album, Hooba Dooba, was released in March 2010<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Advertiser_7-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  and was widely acclaimed as one of his finest.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Brady continues to tour, record and collaborate in a variety of creative projects around the globe.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] ==Awards<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2009 Brady received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster in recognition of his services to traditional Irish music and songwriting.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9] ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Albums<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===DVDs<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ===
 * Solo
 * Welcome Here Kind Stranger (1978)
 * Hard Station (1981)
 * True for You (1983)
 * Back to the Centre (1985)
 * Full Moon (1986)
 * Primitive Dance (1987)
 * Trick or Treat (1991)
 * Songs & Crazy Dreams (Compilation) (1992)
 * Spirits Colliding (1995)
 * Nobody Knows: The Best of Paul Brady (Compilation) (1999)
 * Oh What a World (2000)
 * The Paul Brady Songbook (album and DVD) Live recordings for RTÉ TV series (2002)
 * The (Missing) Liberty Tapes (2003) [Recorded Live at Liberty Hall, Dublin, July 21, 1978]
 * Say What You Feel (2005)
 * Hooba Dooba (2010)
 * Dancer In The Fire: A Paul Brady Anthology (Compilation) (2012)
 * With Andy Irvine
 * Andy Irvine and Paul Brady (1976)
 * With Tommy Peoples
 * The High Part of the Road (1975)
 * With Matt Molloy and Tommy Peoples
 * Molloy, Brady, Peoples (1977)
 * With Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds
 * Fiddle Duet (1976)
 * With Andy McGann
 * It's A Hard Road to Travel (1977)
 * With John Kavanagh
 * The Green Crow Caws (1980)
 * Compilation albums
 * Feed The Folk (1985), Temple Records FTP01, ("The Green Fields Of Canada")
 * The Rough Guide to Irish Music (1996)
 * The Transatlantic Sessions Series 3 (2007) (various artists)
 * The Paul Brady Songbook (2002)