18 Facts About Karan Casey

Karan Casey was born on 1969 and is an Irish folk singer, and a former member of the Irish band Solas.

Karan Casey's family encouraged her to sing in the house, in a church choir and at school.

Karan Casey fell under the influence of Dublin folk singer Frank Harte.

In 1993, Karan Casey moved to New York City, to study jazz at Long Island University.

In 1997, Karan Casey recorded a solo album, Songlines, inspired by the novel of the same name by Bruce Chatwin and produced by Seamus Egan.

Karan Casey left Solas at the beginning of 1999 to pursue her solo ambitions.

Karan Casey then moved back to Ireland, although frequently travelled between her home in Cork and America.

In 2001, Karan Casey finished working on her second solo album, The Winds Begin to Sing which was well received by critics and propelled her into a stable solo career.

Karan Casey released Distant Shore in 2003 and toured extensively throughout the Americas and Europe.

In 2005, Karan Casey released Chasing the Sun featuring Irish traditional and folk songs which she learned from her mother and maternal grandmother.

In 2006, Karan Casey joined her previous band Solas to guest on their live DVD and album, Reunion: a Decade of Solas.

Karan Casey joined Deirdre Scanlan and Antje Duvekot, along with the male vocalists from the band.

In early 2010, Karan Casey released Exiles Return, a duet album with former Solas bandmate John Doyle; it was listed among the Top 5 albums of the year by The Irish Echo newspaper.

In 2017 Karan Casey was Traditional Artist in Residenceat University College Cork, toured the UK with the Transatlantic Sessions, performed at Glasgow's Celtic Connections, and toured in the US both with her own band and with Lunasa, including a performance at New York's Carnegie Hall.

In 2018 Karan Casey helped to found FairPle which is an organization aimed at achieving fairness and gender balance for female performers in Irish traditional and folk musics.

Karan Casey is joined on vocals by some of the women singers she's long-admired, including Karen Matheson, Niamh Dunne, Pauline Scanlon, Maura O'Connell and Aoife O Donovan.

Karan Casey married Irish concertina player, Niall Vallely, in February 2007.

Karan Casey has collaborated frequently with the Vallely brothers and their bands.