Eamonn McCrystal (born 1 June 1987)Karen Scott, "Eamonn McCrystal – following his destiny," ''

Tyrone Courier The ''Dungannon News and Tyrone Courier'' is a weekly newspaper based in Dungannon, County Tyrone, with an office in Cookstown Northern Ireland. It is published by the Alpha Newspaper Group Alpha Newspaper Group is a media group, primarily in ...

'', 22 August 2012. is a multi-

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

winning

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

pop

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

TV host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

and producer based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early life

McCrystal was born to Jim and Ann McCrystal, nursing home owners, in

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Maghe ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, Northern Ireland.John McGurk
“Cookstown singer Eamonn McCrystal set for stardom in US”
''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'', 4 September 2012.Billy Kennedy, "Rising star Eammon to thrill Cookstown", ''The News Letter'', 10 August 2012. He attended Holy Trinity College in Cookstown, where he learned to play the piano and the flute. In his late teen years, he seriously considered joining the priesthood, but was advised by local

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Sean Brady to pursue his music career instead. He studied to be a teacher of

Religious Education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to te ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

at St Mary's University College, Belfast before moving to

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

to pursue a career in Media.

Career

Early career

McCrystal's debut radio broadcast was at the age of nine, on the George Jones Show on

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

.Jenny Lee
“Crystal clear sounds,”
''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its view ...

'', 31 August 2012. He released his first album, ''After the Storm'', in 2000, at the age of 13. Over the course of the decade, he independently recorded three more albums, and toured around Ireland with a 15-piece band.

Move to U.S.

In 2009, McCrystal was working as a stage manager at the UTV Country Fest in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, headlined that year by

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

. McCrystal was driving Travis's then-wife and manager Elizabeth Travis to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and gave her a copy of ''Eamonn McCrystal Live''. After listening to the album, she gave McCrystal a slot as a guest artist on the Randy Travis tour, signed him to a contract with Elizabeth Travis Management, and brought him to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he is currently based. In 2011, McCrystal recorded his first US album, ''When in Nashville...'', produced by

Kyle Lehning Kyle Lehning is an American record producer whose work is mainly in the field of country music. He has produced virtually every album released by Randy Travis, who described their partnership "an interesting relationship." The only exceptions are ...

, composed of six covers and six original compositions by outside songwriters. Later that year, McCrystal sang with Randy Travis on "Someone You Never Knew" on his album ''Anniversary Celebration''. In 2012, McCrystal released the single "Under Your Wings," a ballad written by

Walter Afanasieff Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter of Russian-Chinese descent. He was a collaborator with Mariah Carey on her first ...

. McCrystal's musical director

Brad Ellis Brad Ellis is an American composer, musical director, singer, orchestrator, and jazz pianist. Ellis is perhaps most visible as Brad the mostly quiet pianist for the high school kids on ''Glee'', the Fox television show for which he is part of cre ...

accompanies him on the track. Eamonn McCrystal Belfast 2014

In 2013, McCrystal released ''The Music of Christmas & the Stories Behind the Songs'', an album of Christmas songs produced by Nigel Wright. On 2 September 2014, his album ''A Living Prayer'' was released by Difference Media /

UMG Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. Produced by McCrystal and Casey Wood, it contains traditional hymns and contemporary songs.“Celebrating our music,”
''The Irish News'', 28 August 2014. McCrystal and Woods co-produced the 2016 traditional vocal pop album ''And So It Goes'' which included performances by

Rita Wilson Rita Wilson (born Margarita Ibrahimoff; October 26, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and producer. Her film appearances include ''Volunteers'' (1985), ''Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), '' Now and Then'' (1995), ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996), ...

and Chloe Agnew.

Television, film and radio

In 2008, McCrystal founded SMUC Radio, a radio station at St. Mary's University College in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, England, hosted by students and broadcast 24 hours a day. SMUC Radio debuted on 19 February 2009. An

Internet TV Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

station, The Eamonn McCrystal Network, was launched on 10 October 2012. On 6 September 2014, McCrystal hosted the made-for-television concert ''The Music of Northern Ireland'' at the Grand Opera House in

. It was filmed by

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

and aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in North America in March 2015. During the event, McCrystal sung duets with special guest artists including Brian Kennedy,

Rachel Tucker Rachel Kelly Tucker (born 29 May 1981) is a Northern Irish West End and Broadway actress, best known for her portrayal of Elphaba in the hit musical '' Wicked''. She most recently starred in Come from Away on Broadway, having originated the role ...

Keith Getty Julian Keith Getty OBE (born 16 December 1974) is a Northern Irish Christian singer and songwriter, best known for writing the modern hymn "In Christ Alone" in 2001 with veteran songwriter and worship leader Stuart Townend. Getty and his wif ...

and

Kristyn Getty Kristyn Elizabeth Rebekah Getty ( Lennox, born 22 May 1980 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish Christian singer and songwriter. With her husband, Keith Getty, she has co-written many award-winning songs and hymns that have charted on multiple US ...

.“’We want to show everyone Ulster is a place of cool music’,”
''

The News Letter The ''News Letter'' is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published from Monday to Saturday. It is the world's oldest English-language general daily newspaper still in publication, having first been printed in 1737. The newspape ...

'', 4 September 2014. It won four 2015

NATAS The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, with McCrystal winning for best On-Camera Talent/Performer, and as a co-producer for best Overall Arts/Entertainment program. Eamonn is seen regularly on

Television with his concerts "The Music of Northern Ireland" (PBS) and "The Music of Christmas" (BBC/PBS) and also on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Early life

Career

Early career

Move to U.S.

Television, film and radio

Performances

Discography

Albums

Singles

Collaborations

References

External links