Patrick (Paddy) Tunney


1921 - 2002

Irish folk singer and writer. Born in Glasgow, the third of eight children, Tunney returned to Ireland with his family at the age of four. Living at Mulleek in County Fermanagh, he was educated at Derryhallow Public Elementary School and later Ballyshannon Technical College. Tunney had joined the IRA in the 1930s and, in 1943, he was sentenced to seven years in a Belfast prison on explosives charges. However, he took the opportunity to continue his education and qualified as a Public Heath Inspector, settling in Donegal. He became a noted singer of traditional Irish folk songs in English. In 1967, at the invitation of Ewan MacColl (1915-89), he undertook the first of many tours of Britain. He also toured Canada, and the USA as part of the bicentenary celebrations of 1976.

His albums include The Man of Song (1962), A Wild Bees Nest (1965) and Lark in the Morning (1996). He also wrote prose and poetry.


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