Paul Brady

Born May 19 1947 in Strabane, Northern Ireland, on the border with the Irish Republic, Paul Brady was into a wide variety of music from an early age. The talented and prolific singer/songwriter has enjoyed a career that has seen him pass th

Born May 19 1947 in Strabane, Northern Ireland, on the border with the Irish Republic, Paul Brady was into a wide variety of music from an early age. The talented and prolific singer/songwriter has enjoyed a career that has seen him pass through several major bands and on to a successful solo phase.

He began performing as a hotel piano player in Donegal, Ireland at the age of sixteen and graduated to being guitarist, during the 1960s, in two rhythm and blues bands: Rockhouse and the Cult. There followed a stint with the Johnstons as a guitarist and singer that ended in 1974, and a shorter one with Planxty that saw Brady touring extensively but recording no albums. In 1976, Brady recorded an album with Andy Irvine that he now regards as his best. Welcome Here Kind Stranger, released in 1978 was the summation of his interest in Irish music and was followed in 1981 by the appropriately named Hard Station, Brady's engagement with commercial rock. From here, Brady recorded a slew of albums and collaborated with Bonnie Raitt and Richard Thompson.