Paddy Keenan
| Paddy Keenan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
30 January 1950 Trim, County Meath Ireland |
| Genres |
Celtic Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Uilleann Pipes, Tin Whistle |
| Years active | 1964 – present |
| Associated acts | Bothy Band, The Bucks, Tommy O'Sullivan |
| Website | paddykeenan |
| Notable instruments | |
| Crowley pipes, Leo Rowsome chanter, Dave Williams pipes | |
Paddy Keenan (born 30 January 1950) is an Irish player of the uilleann pipes who first gained fame as a founding member of The Bothy Band. Since that group's dissolution in the late 1970s, Keenan has released a number of solo and collaborative recordings, and continues to tour both as a soloist, and with singer/guitarist Tommy O'Sullivan.
Paddy Keenan was born in Trim, County Meath in 1950 to John Keenan (an Irish Traveller) and Mary Bravender Keenan (of settled descent). Though the Keenan family abandoned the Traveling lifestyle early in Paddy's life, he spent much of his youth contending with discrimination, including regular physical confrontations. His father and grandfather both played the pipes, and his father spent many nights playing along with piper Johnny Doran. When he was about six years old, Keenan was introduced to the tin whistle by his brother Johnny (a notable Irish banjo player), and began playing the pipes around age nine.
Recognizing his son's interest, John Keenan tutored Paddy, along with neighbouring children, including Finbar Furey and Davy Spillane. During this period, the Keenan household was an ongoing session. At age fourteen, Keenan played his first major concert at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, followed by a few years of touring with a number of musicians, including his father, as "The Pavees." At seventeen, Keenan went to England in an attempt to escape the strictness of his father's household, and ended up busking around London, singing and playing blues and rock songs on guitar for most of the following four years. After nearly selling or throwing away his pipes several times, he discovered in 1971 that busking with them was far more lucrative than with the guitar, and resumed his piping career.
Returning to Dublin, Keenan played regularly with his brothers and father at folk clubs and various venues around Ireland. In 1975, he was part of a band called Seachtar, from the Irish word for 'seven people.' This band was the genesis of The Bothy Band, of which Keenan was a mainstay from its inception to its demise in 1979.
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