Patrick Brian Warfield (born 2 April 1946, Holles Street,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

) is the vocalist,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

and

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A Goatskin (material), goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or ot ...

player and lead songwriter with long-standing Irish band

The Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning ...

. Brian introduces many of the songs at the Wolfe Tones live concerts and is a keen historian.

Personal life

Brian Warfield was born on 2 April 1946 in the

National Maternity Hospital, Dublin The National Maternity Hospital (), popularly known as Holles Street Hospital, is a large maternity hospital in Ireland. It is at the eastern corner of Merrion Square, at its junction with Holles Street and Mount Street Lower, Lower Mount Street i ...

and lived in the

suburb

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...

. He is one of the founding members and lead singers of the Irish Folk band,

. Warfield was the second born in a family of 4 boys. Today, Brian is married to his wife June Warfield (née Radburn) and resides in Blessington, County Wicklow. As of July 2017, Brian has not communicated with his brother

Derek Warfield Derek Warfield (born 15 September 1943) is an Irish singer, songwriter, historian, and a former member of the musical group The Wolfe Tones. Personal life Born in the Dublin suburb Inchicore, Warfield was educated at Synge Street CBS. He was ...

since he left

in 2001, except when

Joe Duffy Joseph Duffy (born 27 January 1956) is an Irish people, Irish radio and TV presenter employed by RTÉ. One of the public service broadcaster's highest-earning stars, he is the current presenter of ''Liveline'', an interview and phone-in chat s ...

unsuccessfully tried to get them to resolve their differences on the radio show

Liveline ''Liveline'' is an Republic of Ireland, Irish radio interview and phone-in chat show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday afternoon between 13.45 and 15.00. The programme, which has been presented since 1999 by Joe Duffy, and is known for its ...

in 2009. In 2019, Warfield was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which was later shown to in fact be

essential tremor Essential tremor (ET), also called benign tremor, familial tremor, and idiopathic tremor, is a medical condition characterized by involuntary rhythmic contractions and relaxations ( oscillations or twitching movements) of certain muscle groups i ...

. Despite this, he was still able to perform in 2023 with plans to continue producing new music in 2024.

Career

Warfield has written many songs for the Wolfe Tones, notably "The Helicopter Song", "Irish Eyes" and "My Heart is in Ireland". "Let the People Sing", was written in dedication to those Irish ballad singers who were banned from singing Irish songs. It has been performed by many

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and Irish Rebel bands, including Celtic band Charlie and the Bhoys. The song is popular among fans of

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

and a version "Let The People Sing" performed by The Malleys, omitting the second verse, is played at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

on match days. Warfield's affiliation with Celtic Football Club led to him being asked to write a song for the Club to celebrate its 100th anniversary. As a result, '' Celtic Symphony'' was composed; a song popular with many Celtic fans, but controversial due to its chorus. The chorus which features the words "ooh, ah, up the RA" was often seen as a pro-IRA stance, but according to its writer, Brian Warfield, these words were included in the balladic tradition of writing what is observed at the time. As a songwriter, Warfield's writing is typically a social commentary on Ireland and its issues. For the 2012 album, Child of Destiny, Warfield composed 'Swing A Banker', which is a comical ballad referring to Irish bankers as chickens. The music video was recorded outside the Treasury Building in

. He is currently working on a musical about the famine. He continues to tour with The Wolfe Tones with Tommy Byrne and Noel Nagle.

Bibliography

References

Irish male banjoists Irish male folk singers Irish male songwriters Living people 1946 births The Wolfe Tones members 20th-century Irish songwriters 21st-century Irish songwriters 20th-century Irish banjoists 21st-century Irish banjoists 20th-century Irish folk singers 21st-century Irish folk singers 20th-century Irish male musicians 21st-century Irish male musicians {{Ireland-singer-stub