Joe Heaney (AKA Joe Éinniú; Irish: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) (1 October 1919 – 1 May 1984) was an Irish traditional (
sean nós) singer from County Galway, Ireland. He spent most of his adult life abroad, living in England, Scotland and New York City, in the course of which he recorded hundreds of songs.
Biography
Heaney was born in
Carna, a village in
Connemara
Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...
, County Galway, along the west coast of Ireland. This is an Irish-speaking district. He said he started singing at the age of five, but his shyness kept him from singing in public until he was 20. He learned English at school in Carna. When he was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to attend school in Dublin. While there he won first and second prizes at a national singing competition. Most of his repertoire (estimated to exceed 500 songs) was learned while growing up in Carna.
In 1949, he went to London where he worked on building sites and became involved in the folk-music scene. He recorded for the
Topic
Topic, topics, TOPIC, topical, or topicality may refer to:
Topic / Topics
* Topić, a Slavic surname
* ''Topics'' (Aristotle), a work by Aristotle
* Topic (chocolate bar), a brand of confectionery bar
* Topic (DJ), German musician
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and
Gael-linn labels. He was married for six years until his wife died of tuberculosis.
[
He was recorded by Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh for ]Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
, and by Peter Kennedy for 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. ...
...
in 1959. The BBC recordings were assembled on a BBC LP, not commercially issued, as BBC LP 22570.
He visited America in 1965 at the invitation of the
. After singing at Newport, he decided to move to America and settled in New York City.