Christy Moore
b. 7 May 1945, Dublin, Eire. Moore's beginnings were fairly typical for a solo folk performer in the '60s: playing the club circuit in Eire, subsequently doing likewise in England while in between working on building sites and road gangs. Influenced by the American styles of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and the British folk giant, Ewan MacColl, Moore performed in the UK folk clubs alongside the rising stars of the period. It was in England, in 1969, that he recorded his first album, a collaboration with Dominic Behan, PADDY ON THE ROAD. His first solo album led to the forming of Planxty, where he stayed until 1975. Having once again embarked on a solo career, he became involved in the mid-'70s with the Anti-Nuclear Roadshow which featured performers, environmental activists and politicians. The Roadshow established Moore's reputation as a campaigning and political performer and the ensemble's success made a heavy contribution to undermining the plans for a Irish nuclear power programme. 
After a brief reunion with Planxty in the late '70s, Moore and fellow Planxty member Donal Lunny split in 1981 to form Moving Hearts. This progression from the former group fused folk with rock. Despite the group taking a similar ideologically agit-prop stance, Moore eventually felt uncomfortable within a group set-up and once again returned to solo work in 1982. Since that time, Moore's mixture of traditional songs with contemporary observations of Irish life, social and political, has also tackled the political problems of Central America and South Africa as well as the problems in his homeland and Ulster. His songs are notable not only for their spiky commentary but also an engaging humour. Christy Moore's standing in Irish folk music is of a stature unparalleled and his influence spills over into the field of pop and rock, winning critical favour, respect and debt, from such contemporary pop performers as the Pogues, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg and U2.