Lisa O'Neill (born 1982) is an Irish singer-songwriter.

Early life

O'Neill grew up in

Ballyhaise Ballyhaise (; ) is a village in County Cavan, Ireland. It is situated approximately north-northeast of Cavan and 11 km, via the N54, from the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The River Annalee flows near the village. ...

, County Cavan.

Career

O'Neill moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

aged 18 to study music at

Ballyfermot College Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE; ) is an educational institution in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, a college of further and higher education. Management Ballyfermot College of Further Education is managed by the City of Dubl ...

. For seven years afterwards, she worked in the service industry in places such as

Eddie Rocket's Eddie Rocket's is an Irish restaurant chain, with its headquarters in Dublin. It offers American-style food in 1950s-style diners (similar to the Johnny Rockets diner restaurants in the United States). It is owned by Rocket Restaurants Limited ...

and

Bewley's Bewley's is an Irish hot beverage company, located in Dublin and founded in 1840, which operates internationally. Its primary business operations are the production of tea and coffee, and the operations of cafés. Bewley's has operations in Ire ...

Grafton Street Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre — the other being Henry Street. It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the low ...

, continuing to write songs. Her first album, ''Has An Album'', was released in 2009. In 2011, David Gray invited her to open for him on his American and Canadian tour and she was also part of his touring band for a time. Her 2013 and 2018 albums were nominated for the

Choice Music Prize The Choice Music Prize (), known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to music from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish passport. ...

. She played at the 2016

Vancouver Folk Music Festival The Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VFMF), founded in 1978, is an outdoor multistage music festival, located at Jericho Beach, Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia. It takes place annually on the third weekend of Jul ...

. In 2016, O'Neill made an appearance on the debut album by the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, ''Everything Sacred''. In the album's liner notes, singer

James Yorkston James Yorkston (born James Patrick Yorkston Wright; 21 December 1971) is a Scottish folk musician, singer-songwriter and author from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife. He has been releasing music since 2001. As well as recording as a solo artist ...

reveals that the possibility of calling the group Yorkston/Thorne/Khan/O'Neill was discussed, but that she saw herself as a guest. In 2017, O'Neill was featured in the film ''

Song of Granite ''Song of Granite'' is a 2017 Irish biographical drama film directed by Pat Collins. It was selected as the Irish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Plot The origins and rise of sea ...

'', in which she sang "

The Galway Shawl {{Wikisource"The Galway Shawl" is a traditional Irish folk song, concerning a rural courtship in the West of Ireland. The first known version was collected by Sam Henry from Bridget Kealey in Dungiven in 1936.Sam Henry's Songs of the People, p 2 ...

". That year, Donal Dineen and Miles O'Reilly showcased her in their seminal YouTube survey of contemporary Irish folk artists, This Ain't No Disco. She sang her own Factory Girl with Radie Peat of Lankum fame, laying down an a cappella performance that combined the best of trad with intense, minimal production values. O'Neill won Best Original Folk Track with "Rock the Machine" (from her album ''Heard a Long Gone Song'') at the 2019

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

Folk Awards, and was nominated for Folk Singer of the Year, Best Traditional Track, Best Original Track and Best Album at the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

Folk Awards in the same year. In 2021, O'Neill's cover of Dylan's All the Tired Horses reached a huge mainstream audience when her dark

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

channelled Tommy Shelby's return to his Roma roots in the final episode of Peaky Blinders. In December 2023, O'Neill performed a rendition of "

Fairytale of New York "Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their London-based band the Pogues, featuring English singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was writ ...

" alongside

the Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

and

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (25 December 195730 November 2023) was a British-born Irish singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He won acclaim for his lyrics, whic ...

's funeral service held at St Mary's of the Rosary Catholic Church,

Nenagh Nenagh ( ; , or simply 'the Fair') is the county town of County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the East Munster Ormond Fair. Nenagh was the county town of the former county of Nort ...

, Co Tipperary, Ireland. They sang the roles of the 1987 original hit recording by the late

Kirsty MacColl Kirsty Anna MacColl (, ; 10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter. The daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl, she recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop ...

and MacGowan."Shane MacGowan funeral: Johnny Depp and Bob Geldof among star-studded congregation"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

EP

*''The Wren, the Wren'' (2019)

References

External links

Official websiteO'Neill at DiscogsO'Neill on BandcampO'Neill on YouTube
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Lisa 1982 births Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Musicians from County Cavan Irish folk singers Folk guitarists Irish women singers People from Ballyhaise 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music