Joe Chester - chairperson

Joe Chester is a songwriter and producer from Dublin. After a career that included spells with Sunbear, Tenspeedracer, Future Kings of Spain, Nina Hynes, Nick Kelly and Miriam Ingram, Joe released his first solo album, “A Murder of Crows” in 2005. The album went on to be shortlisted for the Choice Music Prize and Joe was nominated for Best Irish Male at the Meteor Irish Music Awards in 2006. Joe’s sophomore album “The Tiny Pieces Left Behind” was released in 2008 and garnered critical acclaim with Hot Press comparing him to Neil Young and John Lennon. Joe is currently writing his third album and is blogging about the process, giving fellow songwriters a unique look into his world.

Official website: http://soundcloud.com/joe-chester

Fiachra Trench

Fiachra Trench is one of Ireland’s best known composers and arrangers. He began his career in London in 1969, working there as an arranger, composer, musical director and producer, and returned to his native Ireland in 1991. Fiachra has worked on such films as Pearl Harbour, The Boxer, Die Hard and Twelfth Night and has collaborated with many of the leading lights of Irish music including Altan, Paul Brady, The Chieftains, The Corrs, Shaun Davey, Phil Lynott, Van Morrison and Sinead O’Connor. In addition, his original compositions have been performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Fiachra continues to live and work in County Wicklow and, in addition to many other projects, is also the musical director and pianist with The Carmel McCreagh Band.

Luan Parle

First appearing on television on the Late Late Show aged ten years old and signing her first record deal aged just twelve, Luan Parle can certainly be considered as one of Ireland’s musical prodigies. Her debut album “Free” was released in Ireland in 2007 and Luan went on to win the 2007 Meteor Award for Best Irish Female and the Tatler Award for Music Woman of the Year 2007/08. Luan has gone on to work with established songwriters including Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Elton John, Madonna), Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones, INXS) and Stephen Lironi (Bon Jovi, Hanson, Lloyd Cole). Even Michael Jackson considered himself a fan of Luan’s and wanted to cover her song “Why Baby Why”. Having been signed to a major label early in her career, Luan has chosen to go the independent route with her latest album “The Full Circle” released through her own record label LPR.

Official website: www.luanparle.com

Luka Bloom

Music was an intrinsic part of Luka Bloom’s life growing up and at a very early age he began writing songs and playing the guitar. He first went on tour as the support act to his brother, Christy Moore, in 1969 at just fourteen years of age and since then has lived and worked in Ireland, the USA, Holland and has toured all over the world. Passionate about live performance, he has commented that in his eyes “every gig is precious”. 'Luka is well known for composing songs like 'City of Chicago', his distinctive style of guitar playing, and eclectic covers ranging from LL Cool J's 'I Need Love' to U2's 'Bad'.

Official website: www.lukabloom.com

Moya Brennan

Moya Brennan is widely regarded as The First Lady of Celtic Music and with a career that spans thirty years, she is one of Ireland’s greatest music ambassadors. Having completed her studies at The Royal Irish Academy of Music, Moya joined her brothers in forming Clannad in 1970, who would go on to become world renowned. Clannad have sold over fifteen million albums worldwide and are most well known for “Theme from Harry’s Game”, “Legend”, “In a Lifetime” and “Down by the Sally Gardens”. In 1992 Moya released her first solo record and she has gone on to sell over twenty million albums. Moya has collaborated with Bono, Robert Plant, Hans Zimmer, The Chieftains, Paul Brady and Van Morrison amongst many others, and she has recounted her experiences in the music business in her autobiography “The Other Side of the Rainbow”. Moya continues to tour and record extensively and is also committed to the various charities with which she is involved.

Official website: www.moyabrennan.com

Shay Healy

Over the course of his career Shay Healy has been a writer, broadcaster, composer and producer. He got his start in 1963 with the fledgling national TV station, RTE, as a cameraman and four years later he switched sides, going in front of the camera to present a folk music programme called Balladsheet. Since then Shay has presented many programmes which include Nighthawks, Evening Extra, The Birthday Show and Music City USA. Shay has also written and performed his own material for many years, both at home in Ireland and in the USA. Shay’s most well known song “What’s Another Year” was performed by Johnny Logan at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest and it went on to win the contest for Ireland. Shay can currently be seen on TG4, as a judge on Glor Tire, a country and Irish talent show, and he continues to write music.

Official website: www.shayhealy.com

Nick Kelly

Nick first came to prominence as the singer and songwriter with his band The Fat Lady Sings, with whom he released two lauded major label albums and toured the world in the early 1990s. Nick’s first solo album “Between Trapezes” won him the accolade of Best Solo Male Artist at the 1999 Heineken / Hot Press Irish Music Critics Awards. His follow-up “Running Dog” was nominated for Irish Album of The Year at the inaugural Choice Music Prize in 2005, and his most recent album “Nine Lives” (2010), released under his musical alter ego Alien Envoy, was the culmination of GESTATION, an unique 9 month project during which Nick performed and recorded alternative versions of his new material at a series of live shows in Dublin, then uploaded the results online so that the public could follow the evolution of the songs. In recent years, Nick has also developed a promising career as an award-winning screenwriter and director, culminating in his third short film “Shoe” getting shortlisted to the last 10 films in contention for the Live Action Short Oscar at the 2011 Academy Awards. He also has a parallel creative life as one of Ireland’s most celebrated advertising creatives. His many notable achievements as a copywriter include persuading Roy Keane to dress up as a giant leprechaun (for Walkers Crisps), Michael Fassbender to swim from Ireland to America (for Guinness), the Green Party to make a General Election broadcast entirely free of politicians, and AIB to sacrifice their own advertising budgets to fund TV ads for their small business customers instead. He is qualified solicitor, and has at various times worked as a video games journalist, a tennis coach, a college lecturer and an extra on “The Bill”.