Written by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) this was his greatest masterpiece composed in 1741. He received an invitation from Dublin, Ireland to perform; and it was there, on April 13, 1742, that The Messiah was first publicly performed.


Born June 14, 1884, in Athlone, McCormack's singing career gained momentum in 1903, when he won the gold medal as a tenor at the Irish National Music Festival, the Feis Ceoil. A year later, McCormack formally launched his recording career. McCormack studied singing in Italy shortly thereafter, before relocating to London in 1907, the same year he made his debut at Covent Garden (proving to be the youngest principal tenor ever to sing at the venue, at the age of 23). Soon after, McCormack was singing opera all over the world, including the United States (he became a U.S. citizen in 1919). McCormack continued to issue recordings and perform, before announcing his retirement after a British show in 1938. But the retirement proved to be shortlived, as he lent his vocal skills to performances organized by the Red Cross in support of the war effort. But by 1943, ill health forced McCormack to retire from singing for good, leading to his death on September 16, 1945 in Dublin.


Eleanor McEvoy was born in Dublin on January 20, 1967, beginning piano lessons at age four; she took up the violin two years later, and as a teen joined the Junior Irish Youth Orchestra. Upon graduating college, McEvoy was tapped for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, but after four years she quit to pursue a career as a pop performer; in 1992, her "Only a Woman's Heart" highlighted the anthology A WomanS Heart, which went on to become the best-selling album in Irish chart history. The record's success made McEvoy a superstar virtually overnight, and in 1994 she issued her self-titled full-length debut; What's Following Me? appeared two years later, and in mid-1999 she returned with Snapshots.


Shane MacGowan is regarded as one of Ireland's all time greatest song writers and has confounded critics and the medical world with his longevity. After splitting from The Pogues in September 1991, he reappeared the following December duetting with Nick Cave on a cover version of Louis Armstrongs' "What A Wonderful World." Following a promotional single, "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" MacGowan unveiled his new band, The Popes, and the debut solo album, The Snalee, in October 1994. The Snalee featured a typically impressive range of musical styles which could have graced any Pogues album. The album was reissued the following year with additional tracks, including the Sinead O'Connor duet, "Haunted", which broke into the UK Top 30. This feat was repeated the following year by his solo version of "My Way" thanks to its prominent use in a Nike commercial. MacGowan continued to confound critics who had already signed his death warrant with 1997's The Crock Of Gold, with the trade "St. John Of Gods," in particular, providing further evidence of his undiminished songwriting abilities. MacGowan has since been released from his label, leaving one of the world's finest songwriters of recent times without a recording contract. In December 2001, MacGowan rejoined The Pogues for a series of live dates.


Formed in Cork in 1980. After settling on a traditional formation of drums, guitars, bass and keyboards, the band began releasing singles which were eventually collected together on 1984's We Hate You White South African Bastards. The title was typically inflammatory, and in direct opposition to that of the same year's long-playing debut, Everybody Is Fantastic. Their Virgin debut, "Town To Town," dented the lower regions of the UK charts and was quickly followed by "Crooked Mile." However, Microdisney elected to bite the hand that fed them with the near-hit "Singer's Hampstead Home", whim thinly masked an attack on fallen idol, Boy George. They bowed out with the single "39 Minutes."


George Ivan Morrison was born in Belfast in 1945. He has written many songs about growing up in Belfast: "Cyprus Avenue;" "On Hyndford Street;" and "Cleaning Windows" to name just a few. Morrison has steadily amassed one of the great bodies of recorded work in the 20th century. His discography numbers roughly thirty albums, among them the deeply poetic Astral Weeks, the warm, pop-soul classic Moondance and such spiritually minded later works as the ambitious double-disc set Hymns to the Silence. At one extreme, Morrison has made raw, angry blues-rock with the group Them. At the other, he has produced some of the most transcendent, even-toned soul music of the modern era as a solo artist. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of Ulster in 1992, and inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Van is an obvious influence on fellow musicians ranging from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger to Sinead O'Connor and U2.


Gary Moore started playing the guitar in 1963 and later in the sixties he formed the group Skid Row in Dublin. It wasn't until 1968 that Skid Row, which at one time included Phil Lynott, released their first album. He and Phil played in various projects together until Phil's death in 1986 although Gary had left Skid Row in the early 1970s. This included work on several of Gary's solo albums. Gary was also a member of Thin Lizzy a couple of times, in 1974, and from '78-'79.

Gary had a band called Colloseum from 1975-77. One of the last songs Phil wrote was for Gary to record. It was called Military Man, a touching song about war. In return, the title cut of Gary's Wild Frontier album, released the year after Phil's death pays a haunting tribute to Gary's friend. His most successful work was the 1990 album Still Got The Blues and its title single. The guitar maker "Gibson" has recently made a Gary Moore model of their famous "Les Paul".

Christy Moore's beginning were fairly typical for a solo folk performer in the '60s: playing the club circuit in Ireland, 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, Paddy On The Road, a collaboration with Brendan Behan's brother Dominic. His first solo album led to the formation of the traditional outfit Planxty, with whom he stayed until 1974. He became involved in the mid-70s with the Anti-Nuclear Roadshow which featured performers, environmental activists and politicians. After a brief reunion with Planxty in the late 70s, Moore and fellow Planxty member Donal Lunny split in 1981 to form the innovative Moving Hearts. Moore eventually felt uncomfortable within a group set-up and, in 1982, returned to solo work. Since that time, he has continued to mix traditional songs with contemporary observations of social and political aspects of Irish life, and has also addressed the political problems of Central America and South Africa.


Formed in 1981 by former Planxty members Christy Moore and Donal Lunny they were notable for their innovative use in Irish traditional music of an eclectic array of instruments, which at times included saxophones, pipes, bouzoukis and synthesizers. The original members, Moore, Lunny, Declan Sinnott (guitar), Eoghan O'Neill (bass/vocals), Davy Spillane (uileann pipes/whistles), Brian Calnan (percussion/drums) and Keith Donald (saxophone), were all connected to the Irish folk scene. The song subject matter ranged from the traditional to the more contemporary. Calnan left after the first album citing musical differences, and was replaced by Matt Kelleghan from the band's road crew. Moore returned to solo work in 1982. His replacement was Mick Hanly, a singer-songwriter who featured on Live Hearts before in turn being supplanted by Florence McSweeney in 1984. The costs of running such a large line-up led to the eventual demise of Moving Hearts in 1985, although they occasionally re-formed for special concerts such as 1986's Self Aid benefit.


American dominance of the lucrative pop & R&B crossover market was threatened in 2000 by this highly talented singer-songwriter, who broke into the U.S. Top 10 with her debut singles "Gotta Tell You" and "Body II Body." Mumba's breakthrough into the music industry came about when she was introduced to Louis Walsh, manager of Irish pop stars Boyzone and Westlife, who helped secure the singer a deal with Polydor Records. Mumba wrote and recorded her debut album in several countries, but the end product sounded distinctly American. "Gotta Tell You" shot to the top of the Irish charts, but more importantly broke into the upper regions of the UK and US charts. "Body II Body," built around a hypnotic sample of David Bowie's 'Ashes To Ashes", indicated that Mumba has a more natural affinity with the R&B market than the reigning queens of urban pop-lite, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Mumba inaugurated her acting career in 2002 with a role in Simon Wells adaptation of The Time Machine.


Born Edmund Enright to publican parents, Mundy discovered guitars at the age of fourteen, bought a couple of books and taught himself how to play. He wrote songs to kill time while serving behind his folks, bar and within six months started playing his own gigs. Birr's amenities - 36 pubs and one record shop - gave the young Mundy the motivation to move to Dublin, where he paid his dues as a street busker before a twosong demo led to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, followed by an Sony recording contract. In 1996, he released his successful single "To You I Bestow." On only his sixth live gig, Mundy found himself opening on Alanis Morrisette's first UK tour.


My Bloody Valentine consisted of guitarist/singer/songwriter Kevin Shields, drummer Colm O'Ciosoig, bassist Debbie Cooge and guitarist/singer Belinda Butcher. Teaming with Colm, in 1983 Kevin formed a variety of bands before settling into My Bloody Valentine in 1984. They quickly became one of the most popular bands in the thriving Dublin music scene. Rather than head to London, MBV took the unusual route of heading for the continent. They released their first EP, This Is Your Bloody Valentine, in Berlin in 1984. In 1985, they finally did head back to London where Debbie hooked up with the band. A succession of EPs ensued, including Geele (1985), Trte New Record By My Bloody Valentine (1986) and Sunny Sundae Smile (1987). At that time, Belinda joined the band and the line-up was complete. Two more releases, "Strawberry Wine" and "Ecstacy, soon followed. In 1989, the band toured Europe and the U.K, and made brief but memorable forays to the U.S. Their greatest chart success came in 1991, with the Top Ten "Glider."

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