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Born in Manchester in 1973, Grace began
playing Irish music at the age of 6. Her parents Kathleen
and Hughie introduced her and her younger brother John
Joe to st Wilfred's branch of comhaltas in hulme Manchester.
She began learning the fiddle and the piano accordion,
and even at this tender age, Grace began to develop a
great enthusiasm for the music. Her teacher's at the time
were Marion Flannery and Bobby Treacy, both great players.
There were regular ceile's with not only music and dancing
but also singing and lilting, and Grace began to sing
and lilt herself after hearing sister's Kitty Treacy and
Nora Madden. They were great exponents in both these art
forms and still are to this day. Irish dancing was another
important part of Grace's life growing up and from the
age of 3 Grace was having lessons with Margaret O’Neal,
a friend of the family and a brilliant teacher as well.
These people along with her parents and many others were
very influential in Grace's formative years in music.
Through the following years and into her
teens, Grace was always playing the whistle as well as
other instruments including piano, flute, button accordion,
bodhran, and even the drums; eventually the whistle became
her main instrument. At this stage Grace had a real love
for the music and couldn’t wait to get home from
school, where she would listen to tapes of various musicians
and bands such as the Shaskeen ceile band, the Bothy band,
De Dannan, Matt Molloy and Mary Bergin, to name but a
few. With John Joe, her brother playing the bodhran and
also hooked on the music, they would play for hours on
end in the house. At the weekends and without any persuading
from mum and dad they played with st Wilfred's ceile band
and would go to sessions where making music and friendships
went hand in hand. This was a special time to grow up
in Manchester, with so many young musicians, it was a
real spawning ground for talent producing great musicians
such as Michael McGoldrick (Capercaillie) Dezi Donnelly,
John Joe kelly (Flook) The Farrell’s, Sean Regan,
Sean Keane, The Dinans, Brendan Dempsey, Debbie Garvey,
Ged Stenson, Geraldine Lyons, Anthony Quinn, to name but
a few. During this time grace began teaching music, which
she still enjoys doing today.
In 1989 Grace joined the band Good Tradition
with her brother John Joe, Peter Carberry, Andrew Dinan,
Andy Jones and Angela Usher. This band grew out of many
a late night session in a small pub in Manchester called
the Apsley Cottage, to this day people still talk about
those sessions because the music was that good.
Grace has played with many bands over
the years including Toss The Feathers, Mike McGoldrick
band, E2K and The London Lasses. She has also played with
Flook and has done numerous recordings, including TV and
Radio. In the late 90’s she played on the CD, In
Safe Hands, a lexicon of tunes from the young musician's
of Manchester, which is held in an archive at Manchester
Library. Recently Grace received an award for her contribution
to Irish music by the Clare Association in Manchester,
all her friends were there to support her on this memorable
night. Over the years Grace has travelled extensively
throughout Europe and recently her music has brought her
as far a field as Africa taking time out to teach a few
of the local's there a tune or two.
Grace has developed a great style of playing
and is one of the finest whistle players around today,
she plays with great passion and feel, for these reason's
she is widely respected within the traditional music scene
in England, Ireland and beyond, not only as an outstanding
whistle player but a fine singer and lilter with a real
understanding of the music she love's. Grace has won 7
All Ireland titles and won the senior whistle title in
1993, the first overseas player ever to do so.
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