Cherish the Ladies | |
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Joanie Madden
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Background information | |
Origin | New York City |
Genres | Irish folk music, Celtic music |
Years active | 1985–present |
Website | www |
Members | Joanie Madden Mary Coogan Mirella Murray Grainne Murphy Deirdre Connolly Kathleen Boyle |
Past members | Aoife Clancy Siobhan Egan Winifred Horan Eileen Ivers Liz Knowles Donna Long Maureen Doherty Macken Mary Rafferty Marie Reilly Cathie Ryan Heidi Talbot Michelle Burke Roisin Dillon |
Cherish the Ladies is an American all-female super group. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985, the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene. The group took its name from a traditional Irish jig called "Cherish the Ladies", and the series opened to sold-out concerts. Their leader Joanie Madden plays flute and tin whistle. The other members of the group play a wide variety of instruments. Their albums contain both tunes (instrumental tracks) and songs (tracks with vocals).
Joanie Madden was born in the Bronx, New York, to Irish parents and is an All-Ireland champion on the flute and whistle. She became the first American to win the senior all-Ireland championship on the tin whistle in 1984. Since 1985, she has been the central force behind Cherish the Ladies, driving them to international acclaim. The group has been a launchpad for many of the top female musicians in Celtic music, including Eileen Ivers, Winifred Horan of Solas, Cathie RyanHeidi Talbot, Liz Knowles, Aoife Clancy, and Deirdre Connolly.
Over the course of the past twenty nine years, the band have played in the finest concert halls and have performed in North and South America, the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Their shows are always accompanied by world-class step dancers on stage.
They have recorded many albums, but their album The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone stands apart from their other albums in that it consists mostly of songs and includes guest appearances by Arlo Guthrie, Tom Chapin, Pete Seeger, Eric Weissberg, Matt Molloy, and The Clancy Brothers. Cherish the Ladies has also recorded a track on the Grammy-nominated album, The Celtic Album with the Boston Pops.