De Dannan and Dolores Keane
One of the great Irish traditional bands was formed in a pub on the coast road. Frankie Gavin, a fiddler from Corrandulla who had played tin whistle from the age of four, Alec Finn, Charlie Piggott and Johnny Ringo McDonagh had been playing sessions at the Cellar Bar in the city and at Hughes's in Spiddal, and in 1975 they became Dé Danann, named for the mythical Tuatha Dé Danann, and asked a young singer from Caherlistrane, Dolores Keane, to join them.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
Tony 1212, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Tigh Hughes on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.
The band
Dónal Lunny produced the first album, Dé Danann, at Eamonn Andrews Studios in 1975 for Polydor; the fiddler Mickey Finn, who died in 1987, is counted a founder too. Keane left early in 1976 to marry John Faulkner, with whom she made three albums, and the band went on to major success in the United States in the late 1970s. The spelling became De Dannan in 1985 for reasons never explained; after the split in 2003, Finn and McDonagh played as De Danann from 2010 and Gavin led another De Dannan from 2012. Gavin is recognised as a pioneer of fiddle-singing.
Dolores Keane
Born on 26 September 1953 at Sylane near Caherlistrane, the third of eight children of two singers, Keane was raised from the age of four by her aunts, the singers Rita and Sarah Keane. With Faulkner she lived in London, wrote film and BBC scores and formed the Reel Union and Kinvara, and her solo albums began with There Was a Maid. Her deep voice made Dougie MacLean's Caledonia, Fahy's Galway Bay, Paul Brady's The Island and Donagh Long's Never Be the Sun her own, and A Woman's Heart in 1992 carried them everywhere. She married Faulkner in 1977, they parted in 1988, and she had a daughter in 1994 with Barry Farmer. She died on 16 March 2026. The model on this page pins the pubs of Spiddal where it started.
Questions people ask
Where was De Dannan formed?
Who founded De Dannan?
When did Dolores Keane die?
Written from Wikipedia, "De Dannan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.