Christy Moore is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. Founder of the Planxty group, he was one of the country’s great musicians to revive traditional Irish music, and spread it beyond Irish borders.
Christy Moore was born on May 7, 1945 in Newbridge (Co. Kildare) into a very Catholic family. Since the age of 6, when he got his first guitar, Christy Moore has won a county medal for his Gaelic, and made a name for himself with the quality of his guitar solos in the choir.
After a musical childhood deeply influenced by Irish music, Christy Moore began his real singing career in 1965, with his appearance at the Tallaght organized by Mick McCarthy.
In 1966 he migrated around the UK doing odd jobs, and appeared at the Wellgreen Folk Club in Manchester on May 4 1967 for his first professional Gig, for which he had developed his repertoire.
On May 6, he goes to The Bury Folk Club. 1968 marked his return to Ireland. He appears on Radio Eireann in the lobby of O’Connel Srtreet. Building on his success in the UK, Dublin bookers are increasingly opening doors for him at the Gigs.
After many years of hard work, he manages to record his first album “Paddy On The Road” with Sound Techniques in Chelsea. As someone who absolutely wanted to record on the Transatlantic label, this is the lesser evil. for the late 60s, Moore focused on Dublin. His influences in the ’70s were more British in origin: Sweeney’s Men, Moynihan and Irvine, Mick Moloney, and that’s what will shine through on these next albums. Seeking revenge for his failure with Transatlantic, he went back to Bill Leader (of the Trailer and Leader labels) and offered to distribute a “Prosperous” album featuring songs sung with artists such as Donald Lunny, Andy Irvine and Liam O’Flynn. This group would temporarily call itself CLAD, but it wouldn’t last.
And so, in 1972, Planxty was born. Over the next two years, the band released 3 albums: “Planxty”, “The Well Below The Valley” and “Cold Blow The Rainy Night”.
Then Donal stepped down in 1974, as Moore did a year later, to go solo again.
In 1977, he made a trip to Bremen in Germany, which was a bit of a desert crossing for him. In 1978 Moore paid a visit to the infamous Long Kesh prison. Then Les Planty rose from the ashes to welcome a newcomer: Matt Molloy. They release a special album, “After The Break”.
January 1979 marks the start of the band’s biggest tour. The tour ends on June 11 at Dublin Stadium, after a 54-concert tour of 8 countries. But our “little” Christy is eternally dissatisfied (nobody’s perfect). The concerts went really well, there were some great moments, and they packed in the fans and the “dough”… But the organization of such a tour inoculated him and our Folk-Man went solo again. I Based on these statements, Christy Moore deduced that he wasn’t cut out for bands.
The years that followed were very productive and a little “crazy”. In 1980, however, he took another trip with his former colleagues to Italy, among other places. 1981 he fills out his health book more than his dance book! Dental problems, throat surgery. Finally, he is much in demand for jigs and once again performs with the Planxty at The Seven Oaks. In 1982, he moved back and forth between solo performances and Planxty. He worked a lot in the studio with Mattie Fox, who later managed him. In 1987 he released “Ride On”, on which he sang the popular song “Viva la Quinta Brigada”, glorifying the Irish who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
“Smoke And Strong Whiskey” will be his first album of the ’90s, not to be confused with “Smoke And Strong Whiskey” which will be released at the same time (via his former label) but which will in fact be a compilation of his old hits, which will surely disorientate some, even if he admits himself that this compilation isn’t bad!
Between the “King Puck” and “Live At The Point” albums, he lost his wife Nancy in 1992.
The “Live At The Point” album was a nightmare to make. Graffiti Tongue”, a very good album, was born in Ballyvourney, reclined like a monk. After 3 years of relative calm and a dispute with his record label, More and Leo Pearson recorded “Travellers” together. Then he recorded with Young Lunny, and in 1995 Bono and The Edge joined him to record “North and South of the River” at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. The track, produced by Steve Lillywhite, is distributed in Ireland only. In 1997, he was featured on the B-side of the single Staring at the Sun, the second single from U2’s Pop.
Christy Moore is at his best with the public when he releases “One voice”. At the time, he was doing a lot of wandering around London. With Decky he took part in a big Gig on Wednesday 30 August 2000. He then recorded “This is the Day” in Kilkenny in January 2001. “Live At Vicar Street” is his latest album project.
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