Michael O'Brien Autobiography...

I was born close to the villiage of Bodyke which is near Scarriff in east Clare, the youngest by ten years of a family of five with two brothers and two sisters. I grew up on a farm where we all did our share of the work and attended the local national school where I was part of the school choire and also the local church choir.

My first introduction to music came from my father who at one time played the violin which was still in our home. My in vain efforts to play this instrument were soon abandoned as the scratchy sounds soon became a great source of annoyance to the entire household, even the poor old dog ran out when I started.

I had finished secondary school when I got my first guitar and after learning a few chords I very soon found that I could strum along and accompany myself singing a few songs that were popular at the time. This gave me great encouragement to continue.

At this time after leaving school I worked for a short time in a piano factory where I found a new interest which was to play the piano. I spent a all my spare time while I was there learning to play songs and tunes that I knew so eventually I got some proper piano lessons which gave me a good start.

As both my sisters were nurses I too decided that this was going to be my profession in life. I first trained and qualified as a Psychiatric nurse after which I qualified as a General state registered nurse.

During this time I played with different bands and enjoyed writing my own songs and was fortunate enough to take home the winning trophy from a few song contests that I had entered. After some years playing the local scene I picked up the courage to record my first album titled " The Cliffs Of Moher "  which was taken on board by "Failte Records" in Dublin. On this album was a song called " The Veil Of White Lace ". This song became a number one hit for me which consequently changed my life and launched my singing career.

Philomena McGovern Biography...