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Artist Bio

Mairéad Carlin is a singer from Derry, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Grammy nominated world group ‘Celtic Woman’

Mairéad began her career at the age of 15 when she won the title role of 'The Rose' in BBC Talents 'Young Singers' competition in the opera The Little Prince by Rachel Portman. It aired on BBC Two and PBS in America. This marked the start of a long relationship with PBS.

Mairéad trained in vocal performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. On her last day of college she was offered a deal to record her debut album ‘Songbook’ with Decca Records. The album was live cut at British Grove Studios in London, and with the London Symphony Orchestra at Air Studios. It was mixed by Grammy nominated engineer Geoff Foster and Simon Changer. Carlin describes the album as portraying the more 'vulnerable' and ‘earthy’ side to her sound.

Mairéad has since performed for the President of Ireland, and has celebrated the Irish Anthem for the England-Ireland Rugby International to a TV audience of millions. She has shared the stage with Snow Patrol, Soak and The Divine Comedy on the BBC TV Gala Concert ‘Sons and Daughters’ to mark Derry's year as City of Culture. She also recorded the City of Culture anthem ‘Let The River Run’ with Glee star Damian McGinty. Carly Simon was impressed by the song, saying "I just played it and cried my eyes out and i’m still crying. It's absolutely stunningly wonderful. Thank you for doing me proud." Carly later invited Mairéad and Damian to perform live with her in Los Angeles at an Oceana benefit concert presented by Hillary Clinton and Ted Danson. Carly subsequently released the single under her own label Iris Records.

Mairéad has toured the UK and Ireland with American singer-songwriter Don McLean including a sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

In 2016 she collaborated with the Oscar winning lyricist Don Black and Alexander Rudd on a collection of new songs written for her to interpret. The album was entitled ‘Stay Away from Stars’ and was recorded at Abbey Road.

Since joining Celtic Woman she has performed in some of the worlds most iconic venues: Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks in Colorado (3x). She has performed on The Today Show with Cathy Lee and Hoda, Good Morning America, Good Morning Sydney and The Today Show also in Sydney to name just a few.
Celtic Woman regularly tops the Billboard world music charts and have been named Billboard World Artist of the year 6 times. In 2016 Celtic Woman were nominated for their first Grammy Award.

With the group, she has performed with some of the worlds leading orchestras: Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Atlanta Pops and the Colorado Symphony.

The Celtic Woman audience reaches far across the globe. During her time with the group Mairéad traveled to South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, China, Europe, Japan, and every year tours the breadth of North America. She has performed in every state in the US bar Hawaii..hopefully one day!

Maireads deep roots in folk music and her love of Americana music drive her unique sound and she is looking forward to exploring that sound outside of her work with Celtic Woman. She cites Sandy Denny, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Beth Neilson Chapman as her heroes.