Derek Warfield
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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 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 ...
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 ...
, Warfield was educated at
Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Canon ...
. He was apprenticed as a tailor until becoming a folk musician. He lives in Kilcock,
County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...
. On , Warfield's wife Nuala died, followed by the death of his eldest daughter on . As of July 2017, Derek had not spoken to his brother and former bandmate Brian Warfield since he left the Wolfe Tones 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. He is a cousin of
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
Senator Fintan Warfield.


Career

Derek Warfield is a singer, songwriter, mandolin player and a founding member of the Wolfe Tones, performing with the band for nearly thirty seven years, writing and recording over 60 songs. As a founding member of The Wolfe Tones he featured on every album recorded by the band from 1965's debut album '' The Foggy Dew'' through to 1989's '' 25th Anniversary''. A solo album, ''Legacy'' was released in 1995 and was followed with ''Liberte' '98'', ''Sons of Erin'', ''Take Me Home To Mayo'' and ''Clear The Way''. Warfield also has a video ''Legacy'' and two books, ''The Songs and Ballads of 1798'' and ''The Irish Songster of the American Civil War''. Warfield has performed his music and songs at American Civil War events and commemorations at such sites as Gettysburg, Sharpsburg and Harrisburg with his band, The Sons of Erin. Warfield's 2002 release, ''Clear the Way'' is the second in his Irish Songs in the Civil War series. The ballad "Take Me Home To Mayo", written by Belfastman Seamus Robinson as a tribute to Michael Gaughan, was recorded as a duet with Irish American Andy Cooney and is the title track of another 2002 Warfield release. In 2005 Warfield released the song "Celtic Celtic (That's the Team for Me)" for the
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 ...
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club. It is one of the singles on album ''Songs for the Bhoys''. In March 2006, Warfield released his ninth solo album, a 36-song double CD of Irish songs. In 2012, Warfield released an album called Bonnie Blue Flag, celebrating the
Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
and particularly the Irish people who fought for the Confederate States of America. He now tours with his new band, Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones.


Books written

A biography of
Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...
in two volumes, although not written by Derek Warfield, has been published by him, and a collaboration with Raymond Daly of Tullamore has resulted in the publishing of a critically acclaimed book of lyrics and histories of Irish songs called ''Celtic and Ireland in Song and Story''.


Controversies

1964–2001 In 1989, a contract was signed by Derek Warfield, signing rights to an American distributor, Shanachie Records. The contents of this contract were apparently misrepresented to the other members of the band, the Wolfe Tones, resulting in a clause that prevented them from recording any new material. Unable to reverse this agreement, they continued to tour, albeit without any new material. In 1995, Derek Warfield released a solo studio album entitled "Legacy" as he was still eligible to record under his own name. With Warfield on vocals and mandolin, the music on this album was performed by a new band, although he was still touring with the Wolfe Tones. His solo releases continued annually until 2006. In 2001, after a show played in Limerick, Derek Warfield departed the band to concentrate on his own career. Calling themselves "Brian Warfield, Tommy Byrne and Noel Nagle, formerly of the Wolfe Tones" the three would later go on to release "You'll Never Beat the Irish" and the subsequent album "Child of Destiny". 2003 In 2003, after a complaint from an Ulster Unionist politician, Roy Beggs, Jr., a radio channel dedicated to the music of Derek Warfield was removed from the in-flight entertainment of
Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...
. Beggs complained of the "Blatant promotion of militant, armed
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...
" by the playing of this music, saying it was the same as "the speeches of
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
being played on a trans-Atlantic Arabian airline". Aer Lingus removed the material from their flights stating: "It is something that should not have been on board and we removed it immediately we became aware of it".


References


External links


Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warfield, Derek 1943 births Living people Irish male singers People educated at Synge Street CBS The Wolfe Tones members People from Inchicore 20th-century Irish singers