Leo O'Kelly sings Tír na nÓg (Féile MOTH)

About

Leo O'Kelly formed the duo Tir na nOg, along with Sonny Condell, in 1970 in Dublin. They saved £30 each, which they figured would last them a month, and took the boat train to London in May that year with a bagful of songs. Within weeks of arriving they had a recording contract with Chrysalis Records, and had already started to gain a strong reputation on the London folk scene. They soon started recording their first album, Tir na nOg, with the legendary Bill Leader producing. They toured extensively, headlining in concert halls, clubs and colleges as well as supporting bands like Jethro Tull, The Who and ELP to name just a very few. After touring Britain, Europe and America for four years, as well as releasing two more highly acclaimed albums, they decided to go their separate ways for a while, getting together occasionally to play as Tir na nOg. Leo, as well as playing live, produced several albums for EMI and Polydor Records, his very first being the highly sought after epic album, Loudest Whisper's Children Of Lir. In 2002 Leo released the first of three solo albums, Glare, which he followed with Proto and Will. The last album was RTE Radio 1 Album Of The Week, and got extensive play on Irish radio. Marc Almond has covered one of the songs, Kiki Of Montparnasse, on his live concerts. As well as his increasingly rare live outings, Leo continues his fortnightly online show on Facebook, ViViD Radio, which is still thriving after 6 years broadcasting. As well as his eclectic solo set, Leo sometimes plays a night of all Tir na nOg songs, covering his and Sonny's repertoire. This will be the basis of his MOTH Club performance and will doubtless include one of Leo's first compositions, Daisy Lady, which has recently had more than 12 million streams on Spotify.