Athenrye

In the City of Glasgow one cold February evening in 1993, four young(ish) Irish musicians got together in the Scotia Bar in Stockwell Street. The meeting was to discuss their common idea of forming a professional Irish ballad group that would appeal to the thousands of second-generation Irish living around the city and in other parts of Scotland. Each musician was already performing with successful bands at the time-The Blarney Pilgrims, Celtic Connection and Clantara.

In the City of Glasgow one cold February evening in 1993, four young(ish) Irish musicians got together in the Scotia Bar in Stockwell Street. The meeting was to discuss their common idea of forming a professional Irish ballad group that would appeal to the thousands of second-generation Irish living around the city and in other parts of Scotland. Each musician was already performing with successful bands at the time-The Blarney Pilgrims, Celtic Connection and Clantara. With the help and guidance of Bill Biggam, successful manager of The Blarney Pilgrims, they started on a journey that would make them the most popular Irish rebel band around-second only to The Wolfe Tones. They toured every Celtic irish club in Scotland and quickly branched out to England and Ireland. As their popularity grew, they were asked to perform in the USA and Canada and were featured on television, radio and in newspaper articles across the world.

They recorded 5 best selling albums of Irish rebel music and were the first Glasgow Irish group to do so. They also had the distinction of being the first Glasgow Irish group to perform as headliners at The West Belfast Festival, Glasgows Barrowlands/Plaza/Renfrew Ferry and to be the first Glasgow Irish group to receive a gold disc for one of their recordings-Ordinary Sunday. Since those early days they have toured and performed constantly all over Europe, the USA and Canada and still keep alive the flame that was lit all those years ago in The Scotia Bar in Glasgow. The Original Line Up was Joe Bracken From Dublin And Mick Murray, Terry Manton, And James Kelly All From Glasgow. The Band Stayed The Same Until January 1999 When James Kelly Left. James Was Replaced By Kevin O'Niell from Donegal, The All Ireland Drumming Champion. They have earned themselves a place in the history of the Irish rebel balladeer and are very proud to be part of that tradition. UnOfficial Site User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..