Bio

 

Brendan Quinn, the son of a blacksmith was born in the south Derry market town of Magherafelt. One of a family of 14, Brendan grew up in the 1950’s when the world was changing fast with the advent of TV. There was new music as well with Lonnie Donnegan Elvis, Buddy Holly and an avalanche of others. Brendan got himself a guitar and spent all of his free time learning the basics and developing his singing voice. He got his first gig with the Malachy Doris Celílí band at a Christmas party for the local Daintyfyt Factory. He and his brother and drummer David then joined up with other local musicians to form The Breakaways showband which became very popular locally, through the 60’s Brendan made his recording debut in 1969 with a unique version of the Kris Kristofferson classic ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’, which picked up a lot of airplay. Then in 1971 he released ‘It’s 4 In The Morning’ which went to no 1 in the Irish charts.There then followed a string of hit records such as ‘Bandy The Rodeo clown’, ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’, ’To Daddy’ and ‘Angeline Would you Like To Dance Again’ In 1976 Brendan struck out on his own with the formation of his own band The Bluebirds, recording albums, doing TV shows and touring all over Ireland, UK and the States. In the early 80’s Brendan, along with wife Bernie and their 4 kids made the move to live in Canada They spent 4 wonderful years in Vancouver on the west coast with Brendan touring all over Canada and the States. He and the family retuned home in 1985 and Brendan immediately resumed his career playing live shows recording a new album and presenting the BBC TV series ‘Make Mine Country’. In the mid 90’s Brendan disbanded the Bluebirds to take things a bit easier, playing smaller venues and forming an alternative band with long time friend and collaborator Arty McGlynn ‘The Kicking Mule’. In the early 2000’s Brendan began to pursue his interest in songwriting and has released quite a lot of his own matreial on his recent albums. His latest offering ‘Tickin’ Over’ has been highly acclaimed and has received massive airplay. His latest single ‘I Have Met My Love Today’ is still riding high in the Charts. Brendan and Bernie now live their lives on the Fanad peninsula in Donegal where he runs a monthly acoustic gig in Fanavolty Hall ‘Séisiuin Fhánada bringing top Irish musicians to Fanad. Brendan may be in retirement, but definitely NOT retired.

new song/video

Balor Theatre Co Donegal