Larry Kirwan (born 1948 in Wexford, Ireland) is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York based Irish rock band, Black 47. This article is about the Irish town. ... Black 47 is an American-Celtic rock band made up of Irish expatriates, formed in New York City by Larry Kirwan and Chris Byrne in 1989. ...
Kirwan has also written and produced several plays which have been performed in the United States and Europe, most of which deal with Irish history and politics, particularly Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...
Since April 2005, he has hosted Celtic Crush, a radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio that features Celtic artists from a wide variety of genres. Sirius Satellite Radio NASDAQ: SIRI is one of two satellite radio (SDARS) services operating in the United States and Canada, along with XM Satellite Radio. ...
He is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Bibliography
Mad Angels (1993) Collection of five plays
Liverpool Fantasy (2003) Alternative history novel surrounding the Beatles after breaking up early in their career
Green Suede Shoes : An Irish-American Odyssey (2005) Autobiography
Discography
1971 - Aftermath - "We Have No More Babies Left/Neck and Neck"(Original Version)
1973 - Turner and Kirwan of Wexford - "Neck and Neck(New Version)/When Starlings Fly"
1974 - Turner and Kirwan of Wexford - "Bootleg"
1978 - Turner and Kirwan of Wexford - Absolutely and Completely
1980 - Turner and Kirwan of Wexford - "The Book of The Law"
1987 - Chill Faction - Eggman on the Deuce
1989 - Black 47 - Home of the Brave/Live in London
1991 - Black 47 - Black 47
1992 - Black 47 - Black 47 EP
1993 - Black 47 - Fire of Freedom
1994 - Black 47 - Home of the Brave
1996 - Black 47 - Green Suede Shoes
1998 - Larry Kirwan - Keltic Kids
1999 - Black 47 - Live in New York City
2000 - Black 47 - Trouble in the Land
2001 - Larry Kirwan - Kilroy Was Here
2001 - Black 47 - On Fire
2004 - Black 47 - New York Town
2005 - Black 47 - Elvis Murphy's Green Suede Shoes
2006 - Black 47 - Bittersweet Sixteen
2008 - Black 47 - Iraq
External links
Black 47 band website
2001 Interview with Larry Kirwan
Kirwan's new project, the Celtic Lounge
Press release announcing Celtic Crush
2007 interview with Larry Kirwan for SiriusBackstage.com
No, LarryKirwanÂs just released first novel, Liverpool Fantasy, isnÂt James Joyce, and it isnÂt intended to be, but as Kirwan wished for in a Black 47 song it appears that the bandleader and songwriter has finally gotten laid on JoyceÂs grave, hoping the author's genius would rub off on him.
Kirwan's work "has revealed a restless, playful and bold experimentation that freely mixes comedy, tragedy, drama, farce, satire, music, politics, and history." Because music is an essential part of all of his plays and his novel, it is hard to separate the playwright-novelist from the rock musician-composer.
Kirwan was born and grew up in Co. Wexford, where he lived with his mother (his father was away at sea for most of the year) until he was 9 or 10, and then with his maternal grandfather, an unrepentant republican.
Although the focus of the novel is on Paul's reunion with his former bandmates, Kirwan also provides glimpses of British society in the mid-eighties, which all revolve around the rise of a fascist political party, the National Front of the United Kingdom (NFUK, or Fronters).
Kirwan is strongest when he is providing a character study of his four main characters, although none of them really come to life beyond the anxieties each suffers from their years as failures and their impending reunion with the only member of the one-time band to leave Liverpool and achieve some success.
However, Kirwan does a good job of getting into the heads of people who feel that they may have missed their best chance and now have a chance to revisit it.
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