Dolores Keane | |
|---|---|
 Mary Black sits while Dolores Keane sings with De Dannan at the 1985Trowbridge Folk Festival | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1953-09-26)26 September 1953 (age 71) Sylane,County Galway, Ireland |
| Genres | Celtic,folk |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
Dolores Keane (born 26 September 1953) is an Irishfolk singer. She was a founding member of the groupDe Dannan following which she pursued a solo recording and touring career.
Keane was born in a small village called Sylane (nearTuam) in ruralCounty Galway in the west of Ireland. From the age of four she was raised by her auntsRita and Sarah Keane, also well-knownsean-nós singers. Keane started her singing at a very young age, due to the influence of her musical aunts. She made her first recording forRadio Éireann in 1958, at the age of five. Her brother,Seán, also went on to enjoy a successful music career.[1]
In 1975, she co-founded thetraditional Irish bandDe Dannan,[2] and they released their debut albumDé Danann in that same year. The group gained international recognition and enjoyed major success in the late 1970s in the US. Keane went touring with the band and their single "The Rambling Irishman" was a big hit in Ireland. In early 1976, after a short two-year spell, Keane left De Dannan and was replaced byAndy Irvine, who recorded live with the band on 30 April 1976, during the Third Irish Folk Festival in Germany.[3] Soon thereafter, she married multi-instrumentalist John Faulkner, with whom she would subsequently record three albums of folk music.[citation needed]
Keane lived and worked in London for several years with Faulkner, before they moved to Ireland in the early 1980s. They worked on a series of film scores and programmes for theBBC and formed two successful bands, The Reel Union and Kinvara. During this period Keane recorded her first solo album,There Was a Maid in 1978.[2] This was followed by two other releases,Broken Hearted I'll Wander (1979) andFarewell to Eirinn (1980), which gave credit to Faulkner.[2] In the mid-1980s, she rejoinedDe Dannan and recorded the albumsAnthem andBallroom with them.
Keane turned her attention, once again, to her solo career in 1988. It saw the release of the eponymousDolores Keane album.[2] Her follow-up albumA Lion in a Cage, which was released in 1989, featured a song written by Faulkner called "Lion in a Cage",[2] protesting the imprisonment ofNelson Mandela.[4] It became Keane's first Irish number-one single,[5] and she performed the hit at the celebration of his release. A new facet was added to Dolores' career when she played the female lead in the Dublin production ofBrendan Behan'sThe Hostage, a new translation byNiall Tóibín andMichael Scott, the opening night of which was attended byMary Robinson, the President of Ireland at the time.
In 1992, Keane was among the many female Irish singers to lend their music to the record-smashing anthologyA Woman's Heart. The album, which also featuredEleanor McEvoy,Mary Black,Frances Black,Sharon Shannon andMaura O'Connell, went on to become the biggest-selling album inIrish history.A Woman's Heart Vol. 2 was released in late 1994 and was also a high charting album in Ireland.. Also in 1994, a solo album, entitledSolid Ground, was released on the Shanachie label (available on Dara Records) and received critical acclaim in Europe and America.
In August 1995, Keane was awarded the prestigious 'Fiddler's Green Hall of Fame' award inRostrevor,County Down, for her "significant contribution to the cause of Irish music and culture". In that same year, she took to the stage in theDublin production ofJM Synge'sPlayboy of the Western World. Dolores contributed to theRTÉ/BBC television productionBringing It All Back Home (1991), a series of programmes illustrating the movement of Irish music to America.[2] Keane was shown performing both inNashville, Tennessee with musicians such asEmmylou Harris andRichard Thompson,[2] and at home inGalway with her aunts Rita and Sarah.
In August 1997, Keane went to number one again in the Irish albums chart with a compilation album of her most loved songs. Another studio album was released by Keane in 1998, calledNight Owl. It saw Keane returning to her traditional Irish roots and it did well in Europe and America. Despite a healthy solo career, Keane went on tour with De Dannan again in the late 1990s, where she played to packed audiences in venues such asBirmingham, Alabama and New York City.
Keane is known the world over for her deep, melodic voice. Her recordings of songs such asDougie MacLean's "Caledonia", Frank A. Fahey's "Galway Bay",Paul Brady's "The Island", and Donagh Long's "Never Be the Sun" are regarded as amongst the greatest interpretations of these songs.[6] American singerNanci Griffith said of Keane: "Dolores Keane, the queen of the soul of Ireland, has a sacred voice".
Keane married musician John Faulkner, with whom she had worked on many occasions, in 1977. After a difficult pregnancy, Keane gave birth to their first child, Joseph. He was born withBardet–Biedl syndrome, which causesobesity and failingvision. Dolores and John's marriage ended in 1988. She had a long relationship with Barry "Bazza" Farmer, with whom she had her second child, Tara, born in 1994. Keane put an end to recording and touring in the late 1990s, due to depression and alcoholism. She has received extensive treatment for these conditions. As of June 2014, Keane was given the all clear[vague] after developing cancer.[7]
In November 2024, Dolores received an honorary doctorate in Music fromUniversity of Galway (DMus).
Dolores duets with John on "It's a Cheating Situation" and "In a Town This Size".
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