Media Release Thursday 13th August 2015

Paul Brady announced as recipient of the National Concert Hall 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award

Lifetime Achievement Award Gala Concert
Friday 20th November 2015, 8pm

Tickets on Sale: Friday 14 August 2015, from 10am

Tickets: €59.50, €49.50, €39.50
 
The National Concert Hall is delighted to announce the prolific Irish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paul Brady as the recipient of the National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015.
 
Considered one of Ireland’s most enduringly popular artists Brady’s illustrious 45 year career has seen his songs covered by everyone from Tina Turner, Cher and Bonnie Raitt to Joe Cocker.
 
Brady will be presented with his Lifetime Achievement Award at a special Gala event to be hosted by producer/director and friend Dave Heffernan at the National Concert Hall on Friday 20 November 2015 at 8pm.
 
The event will see performances by Paul Brady as well as guest appearances by some of the high profile singers with whom Paul has performed, recorded and collaborated with over the years.
 
Simon Taylor, CEO of The National Concert Hall comments:
“We are delighted to announce Paul Brady as the recipient of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award. Paul's contribution to the musical life of Ireland as both a performer and song-writer over the course of five decades has been immense. As with his predecessors as recipients of this award, The Chieftains, Sir James Galway and Dr. Veronica Dunne,  his work has also had a major international impact, putting the quality of Irish music making on a world stage”.

Brady (68), who the Daily Telegraph dubbed ‘Ireland’s musical statesman’ boasts a string of hits to his name including ‘The Island’, ‘Crazy Dreams’ and ‘Nothing But The Same Old Story’. His talent has been championed by such high profile musicians as Tina Turner who famously covered ‘Paradise Is Here’ on her 15m-selling 1986 album, Break Every Rule. Other admirers include Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Curtis Stigers and Van Morrison — all guests on his new live album, The Vicar Street Sessions: Vol 1 which was released April this year.
 
It is said that ‘the gigs constituted a victory lap’ (Irish Examiner) for Brady, who had ended his relationship with his record company after a number of years, to establish his own, allowing him to take on the music business on his own terms.
 
From Strabane, Co. Tyrone, Paul Brady’s musical influences have varied over the years straddling folk and pop. A fifties child, his first sounds were Swing, jazz, the Show tunes of his parent’s generation before rock ‘n roll, 60s pop and Motown, Blues, R’nB and County and Western took hold. Irish traditional music and song was also an influence. An early learner, Brady tackled the piano before playing guitar at 11 years of age. It was his college years in Dublin where is musical prowess took centre stage as a singer and performer with various groups including The Inmates, The Kult and Rootzgroop covering the songs of Ray Charles, James Brown, Junior Walker and blues legends Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry before launching his solo career.
 
Initially popular for playing traditional Irish music, firstly in the folk group, The Johnstons and then 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. In 1978, Brady released his first solo album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger which won him critical acclaim and was awarded the Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year. Brady released a number of successful solo albums throughout the 1980s: Hard Station (1981), True For You (1983), Back to the Centre (1985), and Primitive Dance (1987). By the end of the decade, he was recognised and accepted as a respected performer and songwriter. He went 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 Eric Clapton. Brady's fifteenth studio album, Hooba Dooba, was released in March 2010 and was widely acclaimed as one of his finest with Hot Press editor Niall Stokes saying: “This is by far Paul Brady’s most assured and deepest album since the seminal Hard Station. But give it time: we may yet conclude that he has finally eclipsed that extraordinary record”.

Paul Brady continues to push out the boundaries not only of his own talent but of Irish contemporary music in the new millennium.
 
Previous recipients of the National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement Award
The inaugural award was awarded in 2012, to Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, with Sir James Galway being the recipient of the 2013 Award and Dr. Veronica Dunne as the 2014 recipient.
 
Sculptor John Behan
The National Concert Hall commissioned Irish sculptor John Behan to develop a unique award that reflects Ireland and its strong cultural heritage. Taking inspiration from the Irish emblem of the harp the award is cast in bronze and sits on a polished Irish marble base.
 
For Further Media Information about Paul Brady and the National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement Award 2015 please contact: Sinead Doyle | 087 177 5334 | sinead.doyle@nch.ie

Notes for Editors:
The National Concert Hall is rated by performing artists as one of the finest concert halls in Europe. With weekly performances by its resident orchestra, The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, as well as a range of performances covering classical, opera, traditional, jazz, musicals and popular music The National Concert Hall caters for all musical tastes. The National Concert Hall’s vision is to excite and engage audiences with a musical programme that will enhance immeasurably the cultural life of Ireland. www.nch.ie