Rita Connolly

Connolly is a Dublin-born singer who has lived and worked in Ireland. She is primarily known for her work with composer Shaun Davey Shaun Davey who wrote a song cycle for her called 'Granuaile' based on the 16th century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley as well as including her in other of his works such as 'The Relief of Derry Symphony', 'The Pilgrim Suite' and his Special Olympics music which was specially composed in 2003. Rita sang the anthem song 'May We Never Have to Say Goodbye' which topped the charts for four weeks. She has also produced two solo albums one with the eponymous title 'Rita Connolly' and the second 'Valpariso'on the Tara Music label. In more recent times she has collaborated again with Davey (who is also her husband) and Co. Kerry based musicians (Seamus Begley, Éilís Ní Chinneide, Laurence Courtney, Daithí Ó Sé, Eoin Begley)to produce a unique body of work based on local poet Caoimhin O Cinneide's poetry which they converted into a group of songs and they now perform these as a band called Beal Tuinne. Rita has also been performing with other musicians such as Liam O'Flynn, Arty McGlynn, Neil Martin, Sean Keane, Noel Eccles and Shaun Davey in a new venture called The Funeral Band. She has also been performing in a quartet with her husband Shaun Davey and guitarist Gerry O'Beirne and concertina player Eoin Begley. Rita has sung for and with many of the great names in Irish music including Shaun Davey, Bill Whelan, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Christy Moore, Luka Bloom and Jimmy McCarthy. She has also sung songs for theatre, television and film including The Deer's Cry for 'Who Bombed Birmingham' and Todavia Cantamos for 'The Tailor of Panama'. She has sung in many great venues including the National Concert Hall, Dublin, The Albert Hall, London and Chicago Symphony Centre, Chicago. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.