Frankie Gavin (musician)

Frankie Gavin is a fiddle player of traditional Irish music.

Frankie Gavin
Frankie Gavin
Background information
Born1956 (age 64–65)
Corrandulla, County Galway, Ireland
GenresIrish traditional music
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsFiddle, tin whistle, flute, Viola
Years active1960–present
Associated actsDe Dannan
Hibernian Rhapsody

Early years

Frankie Gavin was born in 1956 in Corrandulla, County Galway, from a musical family; his parents and siblings being players of the fiddle and accordion. As a child he played the tin whistle from the age of four and, later, the flute. He received some formal training in music, but his musical ability on the fiddle is mainly self-taught.[1] When 17 years old, he gained first place in both the All Ireland Under-18 Fiddle and Flute competitions.[2][3]

Music career
Gavin on stage with De Dannan at the 1985 Trowbridge Folk Festival.

In the early 1970s Gavin played musical sessions at Galway's Cellar Bar, with Alec Finn (bouzouki, guitar), Mickey Finn (fiddle), Charlie Piggott (banjo), and Johnnie (Ringo) McDonagh (bodhrán).[4] In 1974, from these and further sessions, he founded the group De Dannan with Alec Finn.

When De Dannan split-up in 2003, Gavin founded a new group, Frankie Gavin and The New De Dannan, which led to an acrimonious exchange between Gavin and Finn. According to Finn, he had registered the 'De Dannan' name.[5]

Gavin has played and recorded with Andy Irvine, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Stéphane Grappelli, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood,[6] and in 2010 became reputedly the fastest fiddle-player in the world, with an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.[7]

Selected discography

References
  1. ramblinghouse.org: Frankie Gavin Archived 18 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 27 February 2011
  2. Galway Advertiser Archives 1973, retrieved 27 February 2011
  3. dublinks’com: Frankie Gavin Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 27 February 2011
  4. ramblinghouse.org: Frankie Gavin Archived 18 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 27 February 2011
  5. culturenorthernireland.org: Frankie Gavin and The New De Dannan, retrieved 27 February 2011
  6. irishcentral.com review: Frankie Gavin & De Dannan, retrieved 27 February 2011
  7. The Irish Times: Musician plays his way into records books, retrieved 27 February 2011
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