Biography
Siobhán Marie O’Brien
(pronounced Shiv-awn)Born: Limerick, Ireland.
Siobhán is a singer and songwriter who performs with acoustic guitar and harmonica.
No newcomer to the entertainment field, Siobhan made her first audio recording at
the tender age of six, with an old sea shanty. Siobhan has roots from four generations in
the music industry.
Her great grandparents were Travelling Opera Singers,The Bowyer/ Westwood Opera
Company,they came from Blackpool in England. Their only son Stanley played violin.
They settled in Ireland when Albert Bowyer(Great Grandfather)died in Omagh Co.
Tyrone while touring. Most notably, O'Brien is the niece of Ireland's Sixties music legend,
Brendan Bowyer (The Royal Show Band) note * The Beatles played support for Bowyer
at The Cavern, Liverpool Pavilion in England.
Siobhán O’Brien has explored many traditions of American song,from folk, blues and
country to gospel, rock and roll to English,Scottish and Irish folk music. Siobhan performs
with an ever changing line-up of great musicians. She is a performer and recording
artist and generally known for her haunting vocals and songwriting.
Siobhán Marie O’Brien
(pronounced Shiv-awn)Born: Limerick, Ireland.
Siobhán is a singer and songwriter who performs with acoustic guitar and harmonica.
No newcomer to the entertainment field, Siobhan made her first audio recording at
the tender age of six, with an old sea shanty. Siobhan has roots from four generations in
the music industry.
Her great grandparents were Travelling Opera Singers,The Bowyer/ Westwood Opera
Company,they came from Blackpool in England. Their only son Stanley played violin.
They settled in Ireland when Albert Bowyer(Great Grandfather)died in Omagh Co.
Tyrone while touring. Most notably, O'Brien is the niece of Ireland's Sixties music legend,
Brendan Bowyer (The Royal Show Band) note * The Beatles played support for Bowyer
at The Cavern, Liverpool Pavilion in England.
Siobhán O’Brien has explored many traditions of American song,from folk, blues and
country to gospel, rock and roll to English,Scottish and Irish folk music. Siobhan performs
with an ever changing line-up of great musicians. She is a performer and recording
artist and generally known for her haunting vocals and songwriting.
Siobhán O'Brien finds her own voice..
By Linda Laban Globe Correspondent
March 2008
When Siobhán O'Brien heard that the Frames frontman Glen Hansard had won the
Oscar last month for best song for "Falling Slowly," his duet with Markéta Irglová from the
film "Once," she was so happy for him that she cried. Her father told her he had heard
the company that makes the guitar Hansard favors had seen him playing his battered
old instrument at the awards show and offered him a new one. More stories like this "I
was going, 'Don't take the guitar, don't take the guitar,' " O'Brien recalls from her home
in Limerick. She got her wish. Her father said Hansard had declined. "That's Glen. I knew
he wouldn't take the guitar," says the 38-year-old Irish singer-songwriter.
BOSTON GLOBE Interview :
Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains) talks about hearing Siobhán O'Brien's voice on tape
"I was blown away. I thought she's brillant ,you know?" read more...
O'Brien seems to need her heroes unsullied and intact; she isn't into the "glitz and the
glamour" of success: "I just love doing this," she says of making music. O'Brien met
Hansard 15 years ago when they bonded over a mutual love of Bob Dylan. Around the
time, Dylan had invited O'Brien, a plucky girl with a strong, delicately tremulous voice,
to sing his song "The Fox" onstage in Dublin with him. That song is just one of many covers
- from Harry Chapin's "Shooting Star" to Brian Wilson's "In My Room" - that O'Brien recently
recorded for her self-released covers record, "Songs I Grew Up To." READ MORE>>
By Linda Laban Globe Correspondent
March 2008
When Siobhán O'Brien heard that the Frames frontman Glen Hansard had won the
Oscar last month for best song for "Falling Slowly," his duet with Markéta Irglová from the
film "Once," she was so happy for him that she cried. Her father told her he had heard
the company that makes the guitar Hansard favors had seen him playing his battered
old instrument at the awards show and offered him a new one. More stories like this "I
was going, 'Don't take the guitar, don't take the guitar,' " O'Brien recalls from her home
in Limerick. She got her wish. Her father said Hansard had declined. "That's Glen. I knew
he wouldn't take the guitar," says the 38-year-old Irish singer-songwriter.
BOSTON GLOBE Interview :
Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains) talks about hearing Siobhán O'Brien's voice on tape
"I was blown away. I thought she's brillant ,you know?" read more...
O'Brien seems to need her heroes unsullied and intact; she isn't into the "glitz and the
glamour" of success: "I just love doing this," she says of making music. O'Brien met
Hansard 15 years ago when they bonded over a mutual love of Bob Dylan. Around the
time, Dylan had invited O'Brien, a plucky girl with a strong, delicately tremulous voice,
to sing his song "The Fox" onstage in Dublin with him. That song is just one of many covers
- from Harry Chapin's "Shooting Star" to Brian Wilson's "In My Room" - that O'Brien recently
recorded for her self-released covers record, "Songs I Grew Up To." READ MORE>>
USA SPRING 2010 March 17 8:00 PM - Siobhán O'Brien performed w/ The San Diego Symphony Orchestra at Copely Symphony Hall San Diego CA TAKE THREE GIRLS TOUR 2010 Siobhán O'Brien, Sara Petite & Angie Boxall Dublin,Galway, Limerick Ireland Highlights 2009 Clive Barnes CD The Ghost Country Siobhán sings backup (5 tracks) Highlights 2008 Guest Vocalist with THE CHIEFTAINS Boston Symphony Hall Massachusetts, USA Performed on RTE 1 TV SHOW SEOIGE & O'SHEA Dublin, Ireland Guest Appearance w/ SHARON SHANNON & BAND Charity Fundraiser Purcells Ruane, Co. Clare Ireland Guest Vocalist of DAMEIN DEMPSEY Kavanagh's Laois, Co. Clare Ireland Siobhán O'Brien is listed as one of the Suzuki Harmonica Ambassadors |
IRISH TIMES NEWSPAPER
Friday, July 18, 2008
TRADITIONAL
The latest release reviewed SIOBHÁN O'BRIEN - Songs I Grew Up To
by Siobhán Long -Writer, Irish Times Newspaper
Limerick singer Siobhán O'Brien treads a vocal pathway forged with such brio by Susan
McKeown .This collection shimmers through the low-key yet sympathetic arrangements of
songs borrowed from her childhood, her beloved Radio Luxembourg and her family
get-togethers. Her uncle, Brendan Bowyer, lends unbelievably delicate vocals to O'Brien's
reading of Scarlet Ribbons, a song rooted in the past that somehow transgresses the
chasms of the decades with the fleetest of footfalls. Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains adds
suitably haunting pipes and whistles to The Long Black Veil, a song to which he's no
stranger himself. A sweet, ultimately satisfying snapshot of a singer still building her identity
through a repertoire that stretches from the grindingly familiar (Lakes Of Pontchartrain) to
the unapologetically fresh faced (In My Room).
Friday, July 18, 2008
TRADITIONAL
The latest release reviewed SIOBHÁN O'BRIEN - Songs I Grew Up To
by Siobhán Long -Writer, Irish Times Newspaper
Limerick singer Siobhán O'Brien treads a vocal pathway forged with such brio by Susan
McKeown .This collection shimmers through the low-key yet sympathetic arrangements of
songs borrowed from her childhood, her beloved Radio Luxembourg and her family
get-togethers. Her uncle, Brendan Bowyer, lends unbelievably delicate vocals to O'Brien's
reading of Scarlet Ribbons, a song rooted in the past that somehow transgresses the
chasms of the decades with the fleetest of footfalls. Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains adds
suitably haunting pipes and whistles to The Long Black Veil, a song to which he's no
stranger himself. A sweet, ultimately satisfying snapshot of a singer still building her identity
through a repertoire that stretches from the grindingly familiar (Lakes Of Pontchartrain) to
the unapologetically fresh faced (In My Room).
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| Matchbox Radio 24 : "Siobhán O'Brien has the voice of an angel gone to folk heaven,sends shivers down your spine, simply beautiful ". |
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