Finbar Wright

Finbar Wright
Finbar Wright, NYC 2006
Background information
Birth name	Edward Finbar Wright
Born	(1957-09-26) 26 September 1957 (age 59)
Origin	Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland
Genres	Pop, Jazz, Spanish
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician, poet
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Sony BMG, Ritz, Dara
Associated acts	The Irish Tenors
Website	FinbarWright.com
Notable instruments
Piano, cello, pipe organ

Edward Finbar Wright (born 26 September 1957), known popularly as Finbar Wright, is a popular music singer, songwriter, and poet from County Cork, Ireland.

Wright is a classically trained tenor who emerged during the 1990s in Ireland and has become one of that country's "most popular singers", concentrating on romantic, jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience. Referred to as one of Ireland's great romantic singers, his first album, Because in 1991 reached the top of the Irish music charts. Wright's second recording, Whatever You Believe, also reached the top of the Irish charts with triple platinum certification and produced the number 1 hit single, "Whatever You Believe", now a Christmas favourite in Ireland. His subsequent recordings have also received gold and/or platinum status.

The two-time IRMA "Male Entertainer of the Year" and BBC Cardiff "Singer of the World" is best known outside of Europe as one of the Irish Tenors from their PBS specials and recordings.

Born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland in 1957, Finbar Wright was the youngest of eight children in a Roman Catholic farming household. Finbar's paternal grandfather, whose family tree includes 7th President of the United States Andrew Jackson, was the son of a Presbyterian farmer living in County Monaghan where he met his future bride, a Catholic from County Cork. The couple married and moved to Cork to begin a family. Grandfather Wright started up his own hackney service which became the family business until one son, Robert, decided to go into farming. Robert later met and married Julia O'Donovan and together raised their eight children on their Ballinspittle farm. Three years after the arrival of their seventh child, Julia gave birth to Finbar on 26 September, one day after the feast-day of Saint Finbarr, the Patron Saint of Cork.