The Clancy Legacy

Very few families have impacted Irish music as much as the Clancys. From that wonderful group of Irish sweater clad troubadours has sprung a generation of musicians who are keeping the music alive. When you read the member lists of the top Irish groups playing out today there is a Clancy or has been a Clancy in the lineup. From Cherish the Ladies to Danu to the Eileen Ivers Band to Green Fields of America there is a Clancy cousin or two. Now we have three of them coming together to play as the Clancy Legacy:

Short Bios
Aoife Clancy (pronounced “Eefa”) brings a refreshing new voice to folk music, one that ranges from traditional Irish songs to ballads to the best work of contemporary songwriters. Born in the small town of Carrick-On-Suir in CO Tiperary, it is no mystery as to why her musical career started at an early age. Her father, Bobby Clancy, of the renowned Clancy Brothers, put a guitar in her hands at the age of ten and by fourteen she was out playing and singing with him in nearby pubs.

She then moved to Dublin where she studied drama at the Gaiety School of Acting. After a season at the Gaiety, Aoife was invited to do a tour of Australia. There she performed at festivals and concerts sharing the stage with some of Ireland’s greatest performers, such as Christy Moore and the Furey Brothers. She then went on to perform with the Clancy Brothers on a Caribbean cruise, the Milwaukee Irish Festival and a seven week tour of the United States with the renowned Paddy Noonan Show.

In 1995, Aoife was asked to join the highly acclaimed group Cherish the Ladies which is one of the most sought after Irish American groups in history. For over four years Aoife has toured extensively doing no less than two hundred dates a year throughout the US and Europe. She has been a featured soloist with orchestras such as the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops. While performing as the vocalist with Cherish the Ladies she collaborated with the Boston Pops on their Grammy nominated Celtic Album

Dónal Clancy grew up in the Ring Gaeltacht of Co. Waterford, a place steeped in traditional music and song. Being born into a musical family (his father Liam, being one of the legendary Clancy Brothers) he was exposed to Irish music from an early age. Dónal began his musical career at age 14 performing in venues around his native Waterford. Since then he has recorded two albums with his father Liam and cousin Robbie O'Connell and also has appeared on many other recordings by artists such as Kevin Crawford, Danú, Martin Murray, Mike & Mary Rafferty, Aoife Clancy, Cherish The Ladies, The Clancy Brothers, Eileen Ivers Band and Solas. Dónal now lives in New York.


Robbie O’Connell, was born in Waterford, Ireland and grew up in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, where his parents had a small hotel. He began to play guitar and sing at age thirteen and soon became a regular performer at the hotel’s weekly folk concerts. He spent a year touring the folk clubs in England before enrolling at University College Dublin where he studied Literature and Philosophy. During school vacations Robbie worked as an Irish entertainer in the U.S.A. In 1977, he joined the Clancy Brothers with whom he recorded 3 albums, and two years later he moved to Franklin, Massachusetts.

With the release, in 1982, of his first solo album, Close to the Bone, Robbie emerged as an artist of major stature. Soon after, he began touring extensively with Mick Moloney and Jimmy Keane, and also with Eileen Ivers and Seamus Egan in the Green Fields of America. In 1985, the trio's first album, There Were Roses, was released. Robbie also participated in The Festival of Mountain Music and Dance on a five nation tour of Latin America. In 1987, the trio followed up their very successful first release with the album, Kilkelly, the title track of which was voted "Best Album Track of the Year" in Ireland. 1989 saw the release of a live concert recording of the Green Fields of America.
Robbie has taught songwriting at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop in Elkins, West Virginia, Gaelic Roots Week at Boston College and at the Summer Acoustic Music Week in Boston. His album of original compositions, Love of the Land, was voted the #1 acoustic album of 1989 by WUMB in Boston. In 1991, he won a prestigious Boston Music Award as Outstanding Celtic Act and was also featured in the highly acclaimed TV series "Bringing It All Back Home." In 1992 he performed at Carnegie Hall with the Clancy Brothers and was also seen by an estimated 500 million people worldwide on the telecast of a live tribute to Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden, a performance which Rolling Stone magazine described as "breathtaking.”