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Lisa Hannigan

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Lisa Hannigan

Lisa Hannigan (born 12 February 1981) is an Irish singer, actress and multi-instrumentalist who plays the electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. Her music has led to much success, critical praise, airplay and award nominations in her native land and, more recently, in the United States. Hannigan is best known for having accompanied the highly successful singer-songwriter Damien Rice. Since leaving him, she has begun her own career with her debut album Sea Sew spawning the hit single "Lille", a Choice Music Prize nomination, two Meteor Music Awards nominations and praise from fellow musicians.

Hannigan's non-musical pursuits include acting, for which she has established her own theatre company, and she is known for aiding charities such as Oxfam. As part of a campaign for fair trade the singer permitted herself be covered in melted chocolate for an advertising campaign. Hannigan has performed and been associated with musicians such as Cathy Davey, Mic Christopher, Mick Flannery, David Kitt and members of Snow Patrol, The Frames and Bell X1 and has performed at the Glastonbury Festival with Damien Rice. She is a member of the exclusive band of Irish artists who have a tax-free status in their native country.

Early life

Hannigan was born on 12 February 1981,[7][8] and comes from Kilcloon in County Meath. She attended primary school at Scoil Oilibhear Naofa in Kilcloon where she first sang as a six-year-old fairy on top of a Christmas tree in her school play.[9] She developed her singing through other avenues such as providing the backing vocals to her mother's front seat Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone when she was being driven to West Cork on summer holidays.[9] She also sang and danced to the first tape she bought, Michael Jackson's "Bad".[9] Hannigan later attended secondary school at The King's Hospital in Palmerstown and became a student of art history at Trinity College, Dublin. However, she left Trinity before finishing her degree to advance her career as a singer.[10]

Career

Damien Rice collaborations

Hannigan began singing as a lead vocalist with Damien Rice's band at a concert in the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin in early 2001[11][10], collaborating with him for six years.[12] She featured on Rice's debut solo album O, first released in 2002, and sang on the majority of his tracks. The singer became a frequent companion of Rice during his live performances as a vocalist, and on occasion as an electric guitarist or bassist.[11] At the Glastonbury Festival in 2003, Hannigan played the drums on one track.[10] Hannigan went on to contribute to one more Damien Rice album 9, released in 2006, on which was included a lead vocal on "9 Crimes", the first single taken from the album.[10] However Rice had as difficult a relationship with Hannigan, as he had with other band members, and in one rare interview with The Independent he suggested their different styles of song writing were disagreeable and to blame for the inadequacies he felt about the co-written "Unplayed Piano".[13]

Prior to Hannigan's official release of solo material in 2008, some of her live recordings and covers performed on tour were made available through trading networks or on various radio shows. Such covers included a mix of traditional folk and more contemporary songs such as: "Willy" by Joni Mitchell, "Be My Husband" by Nina Simone (from the 1965 album Pastel Blues), "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin and "Love Hurts" by Roy Orbison.[10] Hannigan also performed live with her own band, called The Daisy Okell Quartet although no recordings are known to have been released.[10] She then performed a solo set at the Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally, County Laois in 2006.[10][11] By this time she had contributed guest vocals on a number of recordings by other artists, including Mic Christopher, The Frames and Herbie Hancock, on whose track, "Don't Explain", she performed alongside Damien Rice on the album, Possibilities.[10]

On 26 March 2007, Damien Rice announced that his professional relationship with Lisa Hannigan has ended, saying the relationship "has run its creative course" and that Hannigan would leave the band immediately to pursue a solo career.[12] Hannigan had been in Munich, Germany with Rice's tour when she had learned that she was no longer needed and returned to Dublin immediately to begin work on her solo career.[6]

Solo career

Lisa Hannigan’s debut solo album, titled Sea Sew, was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008. The lead single, "Lille", was made available as a free download on lisahannigan.com on 25 August.[14] The sleeve featured needle-work knitted by Hannigan.[3]She had previously previewed tracks "Lille", "Pistachio", "Some Surprise" and "Sea Song" on her MySpace page with the message: "I'm in the middle of making my first record and I want it to come out as soon as possible so I can sing in venues more socially acceptable than Superquinn and the Luas Station."[15] The album was a critical success, earning rave reviews and being named by some music critics amongst the best Irish albums of the year.[16][17]

Sea Sew garnered airtime on American radio station KCRW and earned early praise from that country's press, including the Los Angeles Times, which called it "charmingly idiosyncratic" and The New York Times which described it as "exquisitely ethereal".[18] Lead single "Lille", released on 25 August 2008, became an airplay hit on Irish and American radio stations.[6] The admiration of Jason Mraz led to Hannigan supporting the Grammy-nominated Californian singer-songwriter on a 42-date U.S. tour which began on 8 October 2008.[4] She lent her vocals to the charity album Even Better Than the Disco Thing, on which she performed a cover of Diana Ross's "Upside Down",[19] and on 5 December 2008 she performed a duet of Mick Flannery's new song "Christmas Past" with Flannery on Tony Fenton's Christmas Special on Today FM.[5] Hannigan has signed with ATO Records in the U.S., where her album was released in February 2009.[20] Sea Sew was then nominated for both the Choice Music Prize,[21] and Best Irish Album at the Meteor Music Awards in January 2009.[22][23] Hannigan's skill and critical acclaim has led to her recently obtaining tax-free status from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland, a program that rewards certain Irish artists for their endeavours by keeping money which would otherwise be deducted as tax.[24]

Side projects

Further information: [[:Side projects of Lisa Hannigan]]

Other pursuits

Hannigan has a history of theatre performance, and started her own theatre group called "The Cowardly Lion Theatre Group".[10] Hannigan appeared in a Jessamyn Fiore play titled The Mysterious World of Birds in September 2003; the play received performances in Dublin and Galway.[10] As part of an advertisement for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign she allowed herself to be drenched in melted chocolate.[10] As part of the same campaign, she made major contributions to the Irish musical collective The Cake Sale,[11] with lead vocals on the tracks "Some Surprise" (a duet with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol[2]) and "Last Leaf".[25][26]

Discography

Main article: Lisa Hannigan discography
Further information: [[:Discography of Damien Rice]]

Awards

Choice Music Prize

Hannigan's debut album, Sea Sew, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in 2009.[27]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2009 Sea Sew Irish Album of the Year 2008 Nominated

Meteor Music Awards

Hannigan and her work was nominated in the Best Irish Female and Best Irish Album categories at the Meteor Music Awards in 2009.[28] She was the only solo artist nominated in more than one category at the awards.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2009 Sea Sew Best Irish Album Nominated
2009 Lisa Hannigan Best Irish Female Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Discography - Lisa Hannigan". Billboard. Accessed 4 February 2009.
  2. ^ a b "THE CAKE SALE - OUT FRIDAY!". Official site of Snow Patrol. 2006-11-02. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  3. ^ a b "Lisa Hannigan confirms album track-list". Hot Press. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Music: Jason Mraz * *". Irish Independent. 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b "Lisa's Duet with Mick Flannery". Official site of Lisa Hannigan. 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  6. ^ a b c "Lisa musters the chutzpah to go solo in spotlight". Irish Independent. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Eskimo Friends. Accessed 2 February 2009.
  8. ^ "Lisa Hannigan". Bandsintown. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  9. ^ a b c "Official Biography" (PDF). Official site of Lisa Hannigan. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Refined Lisa Hannigan". Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  11. ^ a b c d "Lisa Hannigan". Other Voices. Retrieved 2009-02-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ a b "Rice & Hannigan no longer working together". RTÉ. 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  13. ^ "Damien Rice: The world's most reluctant pop star". The Independent. 2005-06-19. Retrieved 2009-02-05. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "Lisa Hannigan heads out on US tour, confirms album date". Hot Press. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2009-02-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Hannigan Irish tour of small towns announced". Hot Press. 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2009-02-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "He came, he busked, he conquered... How Hansard wooed Hollywood". Irish Independent. 2008-12-27. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "2008 This year in music". Irish Independent. 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Loaded: 21/11/08". Irish Independent. 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2009-01-24. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Loaded: 12/12/2008". Irish Independent. 2008-12-12. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "We just wanted to let you know that the US release date has been postponed until February 3rd". Official site of Lisa Hannigan. 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  21. ^ "The Choicest cuts ...or are they?". Sunday Tribune. 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "Meteor Awards 2009 - Presenter & Nominees Revealed". Hot Press. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-01-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Meteor Music Awards nominees revealed". RTÉ. 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  24. ^ "Tax break gives Cecelia more cash to play with". Irish Independent. 2009-01-11. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ "Side Projects". Eskimo Friends. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
  26. ^ "The Cake Sale". Yep Roc Records. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  27. ^ "Loaded: 16/01/2009". Irish Independent. 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ "Sharon Shannon to receive major award". The Irish Times. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-02-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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