Damien Dempsey

Born into Dublin in the mid-'70s, Damien Dempsey emerged as an exciting young talent in the mid-'90s. Dempsey learned to control his wide variety of influences while crafting an extremely original and personal style of folk music. The "Contender" EP arrived in in 1995 and his first commercial single, Dublin Town, followed in 1997. His first solo album, They Don't Teach This Shit in School, was released in 2000. Sinéad O'Connor collaborated with Dempsey for the title track of the "Negative Vibes" EP in 2002. Seize the Day was released in 2003. Released in 2005, "Shots" debuted at the top of the Irish albums chart and achieved platinum status before the year was up, and Dempsey was accordingly honoured as Best Irish Male at the Meteor Awards in 2006 & 2007. Dempsey's fourth studio album, To Hell or Barbados, was released in 2007. An all-covers album, "Rocky Road", followed in 2008. Dempsey's sixth LP, Almighty Love, was released in 2012 and It's All Good: The Best of Damien Dempsey arrived in 2014. Two years later, he followed with No Force On Earth, a project commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the 1916 rising. In 2017, Dempsey released the Soulsun album the Union (Deluxe) collaborations album followed a year later. 2023 saw his one man play, Tales from the Holywell, sell out its 20-night run at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. In 2024, his first album of new music in 7 years, Hold Your Joy was released to widespread critical acclaim.