At 17 he left school and studied Fine Art and Design in Galway but after 4 months packed it in as writing music was taking up all of his time. Two years later he signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell and was introduced to Bernard Butler and they began recording in Edwin Collins' London studio with Bernard producing. ‘Sketch the day, paint the night’ was his first album made up of the Bernard Butler recordings and recordings co-produced with Conor Brady in Dublin. Over the next few years he would travel for a few months at a time through Europe, Asia, USA and South America and return home in between to record the new material which became the self produced, The Spirit Store and Only Love is Real. He was nominated for Best New Irish Act in the 2004 Meteor Music Awards and voted No.8 in the Trad/Folk section of the Annual Hot Press Awards 2005. Now based back in his native home of Birr, Co.Offaly and quietly tucked away in the countryside he began to write his 4th album. He then signed with N4 Records and moved to Dublin to work with producer Ken McHugh (Autamata). After some months in the studio ‘Colour Me Colourful’ was released in March 2006 and the live shows by now were demanding bigger rooms with more national radio and tv appearances. He later signed a new publishing deal with Wardlaw Banks in London. By June 2007, hungry for new inspiration he moved to Amsterdam where he has been performing and writing for his next album ever since. Through his career he has shared the stage with Bert Jansch, Joan Armatrading, The Waterboys, Badly Drawn Boy, Billy Bragg, John Martyn, Donovan, Shane MacGowan, plus celebrated Irish author Paul Durcan. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.