Kieran Halpin - 1955 - 2020

Well-known and well-loved songwriter, Kieran Halpin, died on 5 October at the age of 65.  Originally from Drogheda in Co. Louth, Ireland, he was more recently based in Germany, from where he toured and promoted his music all over the world.

Kieran’s website says: “If the measure of a songwriter is the number of artists singing their songs – then Kieran Halpin must be considered a great modern writer of songs. There can be few writers on the acoustic/folk scene in Europe today who have had more songs covered.”  Indeed, his songs have been sung and recorded by many folksingers, including Vin Garbutt, Dolores Keane, John Wright, Niamh Parsons and Chris Jones.

On stage, Kieran was consistently impressive; his directness and ability to communicate the subject matter of his songs coupled with a passionate performance style endearing him to audiences everywhere, and making him a frequent ‘return performer’ to many clubs and festivals.

He had several musical partnerships, most notably with Newcastle-born fiddler Tom McConville with whom he toured in the 70s, and Chris Jones, an American guitarist and composer who died in 2005, both of whom he recorded with.  Over the years Kieran recorded over 20 albums and released three songbooks containing well over 130 of his songs.  He has left a huge musical legacy and will be greatly missed.

www.kieranhalpin.com