Celtic Thunder debuted in August 2007 at the Helix in Dublin, Ireland, accompanying the Celtic Concert Orchestra under the direction of Phil Coulter, the musical director of the group.
Since the group's formation, Celtic Thunder has released twelve albums: Celtic Thunder, Act Two, Take Me Home, It's Entertainment!, Celtic Thunder Christmas, Storm, Heritage, Voyage, Voyage II, Christmas Voices and Mythology as well as best-of collection Homeland, and twelve live performances on DVD, entitled Celtic Thunder: The Show, Take Me Home, It's Entertainment!, Storm, Christmas, Heritage, Voyage, Voyage II, Live and Unplugged and Mythology, as well as a Christmas performance. In December 2009 Billboard magazine named Celtic Thunder the Top World Album Artist.
Celtic Thunder is known for its eclectic style with songs ranging from a soloist to an ensemble focus. The group is backed by the Celtic Thunder Band on their concert tours, and their live shows are known for the use of dramatic effects via lighting and choreography as well as a stage set resembling an ancient stone pathway suggestive of those referenced in Celtic lore.
Members
The members of Celtic Thunder are (in alphabetical order of family name):
Neil Byrne (born November 16, 1977): Music has always been a major part of Neil's life. Born into a musical family, Neil’s father has worked as a professional musician his entire life and his mother is a huge fan of all music. By the age of 5, Neil was gripped by rhythm, which instinctively lead him to drum on anything in front of him. He began learning the guitar when he was 7, hugely helped and encouraged by his father. Later in life a mutual friend approached Neil and asked him to play at a function for one of Ireland’s most renowned songwriters and producers, Phil Coulter. When Sharon Browne and Phil began working on production for Celtic Thunder he was invited to record backing vocals for the debut DVD, and subsequently play lead guitar player for the live show. Neil would have to say the most memorable and prestigious performance of his career to date was in Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Since then he has toured America and Canada extensively with Celtic Thunder and most recently has joined the cast as the 6th leading vocalist with Celtic Thunder.
Paul Michael Byrom (born April 11, 1979) is from Dublin, Ireland. In addition to Celtic Thunder, he has also performed at major sporting events in Ireland and abroad, including singing at the All Ireland Finals in Dublin's Croke Park and at Heinz Field for a Pittsburgh Steelers game in the USA. He has also performed for Ireland's President, Mary McAleese, and for Emperor Akihito of Japan. Paul has released two albums: Velvet and I'll Be Home For Christmas. He left Celtic Thunder as of 2011 to pursue his solo career. Member from 2008-2011
George Donaldson (February 1, 1968- March 12, 2014) is the oldest member of the group and is a well-known balladeer, guitarist and flutist from Glasgow, Scotland. At Scotland's Celtic Park, Donaldson played to 65,000 fans at the opening match of the 2000-2001 season.
Keith Ronald Harkin, (born June 10, 1986), like Damian, is from Derry, Northern Ireland. He plays the guitar and has written one of the songs for Celtic Thunder: "Lauren and I". In 2008, a new solo album by Keith was rumoured to be in the working stages but has not yet been released as of mid 2009. Keith enjoys surfing and has written a song called Chasing Dreams that articulates his love for it. Keith has now recorded more original songs apart from Celtic Thunder, some titles include: Vanity, Don't Lose the Feeling, and What I Like.
Ryan John Kelly (born November 6, 1978) is from The Moy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He holds two degrees from the Queen's University Belfast, having earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and also a Graduate Diploma in Advanced Accounting, qualifying Ryan to be a chartered accountant.
Damian Joseph McGinty, Jr. (born September 9, 1992) was the youngest member of the group for 4 years and is from Derry, Northern Ireland. He recorded the first Celtic Thunder album when he was only fourteen years old. It is rumoured that McGinty will begin work on a solo album in the next 6 months. He won his first singing contest at the age of five. He recorded the first Celtic Thunder album when he was fourteen years old. McGinty lists Michael Buble, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra among his inspirations.[5] On April 29, 2011 it was announced that Damian was chosen as one of 12 contenders for The Glee Project, a reality series on the Oxygen Network. He tied for first and had a guest starring role in the third season of the Fox hit TV show Glee. He debuted on Glee season 3 episode 4 Pot o' Gold. Though originally awarded a seven-episode arc, his run-time was later extended to 16 episodes including a guest appearance in season 4's Glee Actually. In the summer of 2013 Damian joined Paul Byrom for "The Me and My Shadow" Tour. McGinty is also part of Ethan Bortnick's concert.
Emmet Michael Cahill (born October 18, 1990) became Paul Byrom's replacement. 2010 was a very exciting year for Emmet Cahill; he was awarded the 2010 John Mc Cormack Bursary for the most Promising Young Tenor, and was named the most promising young singer at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has been a multiple prizewinner at the National Feis Ceoil singing competition in Ireland. Emmet is 20 years old and hails from Mullingar in County Westmeath in Ireland. His musical journey began when at just 5 years old he began learning the piano. By 7 Emmet had begun voice training, and he soon went on to win a music scholarship for high school in Mullingar and spend 5 years intensively studying and playing music. At school he furthered his studies in piano, organ and violin and vocal training, however singing has always been his true love. He continued his education at the prestigious Royal Irish Academy of Music where he received a university degree in Music Performance. He has been in many stage productions in Dublin and has performed on stage at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and as a soloist at the National Concert Hall. He is an avid sports fan and has performed twice at Croke Park in Dublin, in front of crowds of 90,000. One such occasion was for the 125th Anniversary of The GAA. He has also performed for the President of Ireland Mary McAleese and at several international rugby games Dublin’s new Aviva Stadium. Emmet also sings regularly at the Mullingar Cathedral.
He is a huge sports fan and has won many prizes playing football with his college and local teams. In his spare time, he also loves attending music and sporting events, playing the guitar and listening to music. He attended auditions for Celtic Thunder in June 2010 and was delighted to be asked by Sharon and Phil to join the show. Emmet Cahill is the latest addition to the Celtic Thunder family.
Daniel Furlong
Vocalist
Daniel Furlong was the newest (and youngest) member of Celtic Thunder. Daniel is 13 years old and hails from the town of Taghmon in County Wexford on the Southeast coast of Ireland. He is a boy soprano and was discovered when he entered a singing competition at the age of seven and won! Although Daniel is barely a teenager, he has been performing and singing in public for over six years. Daniels hometown of Wexford is synonymous with Opera and is host to the internationally acclaimed Opera Festival in October of every year. Indeed Daniel is no stranger to opera and played the role of Edgar in the Wexford Light Opera Society production of Ragtime in 2008. In 2008 and again in 2009, Daniel was also cast in the lead role of Oliver in the musical Oliver with both Oyster Lane and Festival productions. He has also performed solo on two national television stations in Ireland. In 2009 Daniel won an All Ireland Song Contest as a solo singer, competing with artists considerably older than he. In 2011 he won "The All Ireland Talent" Show a nationally televised talent competition and Irelands answer to Americas Got Talent. In light of all of his incredible achievements to date, his home county of Wexford honored Daniel by naming him "Wexford Person of the Year" for 2011.
Daniel describes himself as an outgoing and optimistic, friendly and a fun person. He likes to spend time with his friends and family, and he loves the chance to perform. He is quite competitive and loves playing team sports such as hurling, Gaelic football, soccer and rounders (softball). Music is obviously Daniels passion, he practices with his local choir "The Young Wexford Singers" every week and is also learning to play the guitar and the pigeon box. Daniel came to the attention of Celtic Thunder producer Sharon Browne, when he won the All Ireland Talent Show" and she quickly arranged to meet him. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious and once Sharon had met Daniel and seen him perform, she immediately offered him a place in Celtic Thunder. He performs an angelic version of Walking In The Air in the Christmas show and also sings solo in Heritage on Somewhere Over The Rainbow and the Josh Groban hit To Where You Are. Daniel also joins with other members of Celtic Thunder in the Ensembles and performs duets with Keith and Emmet.
Colm Joseph Keegan (born August 2, 1989) is from Dublin, Ireland. He attended University College Dublin on a music scholarship, graduating in 2011 with an honors degree in Music and Irish. Colm auditioned for and was selected for Celtic Thunder in May 2012 as a new vocalist, becoming a sixth member of the previously five-man group. He was formerly a member of the Aontas Choral Ensemble, who are known for their work with Celtic Woman. Colm appeared in the Celtic Woman DVDs 'Songs From The Heart' (2009) and 'Believe' (2011).
Emmett O'Hanlon (born July 9, 1991), Celtic Thunder's newest member, is Emmet Cahill's replacement. He is Irish- American. Emmett will be touring with Celtic Thunder during their Mythology tour and the Christmas Voices Symphony tour.
Beginning in March 2008, the group has been featured throughout the US on the PBS television network more than 1200 times, and during May and June 2008, members of the group were interviewed on dozens of local PBS stations during performances of their show
Celtic Thunder is also the name of a traditional Irish band formed in 1977. The band recorded three albums―1981’s Celtic Thunder; The Light of Other Days (1988), and Hard New York Days in 1996.
Home
Celtic Thunder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mm
Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Just wanna go home
I miss you, you know
And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
'I'm fine baby, how are you?'
Well I would send them but I know that it's just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that
Another airplane
Another sunny place
I'm lucky I know
But I wanna go home
I've got to go home
Let me go home
I'm just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
And it feel just like I'm living someone elses life
It's like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me
Another winter day has come
And gone away
And even Paris and Rome
I wanna go home
Let me go home
And I'm surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
Let go home
I miss you, you know
Let me go home
I'm just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
Let me go home
It'll all be all right
I'll be home tonight
I'm coming back home
The Celtic Thunder's song "Home" tells a story of someone who is away from home and misses their loved ones. The lyrics depict the feeling of loneliness, despite being surrounded by a million people in Paris and Rome. The singer expresses the need to go back home to his loved one, who is constantly on their mind.
The lyrics also touch on the struggle of trying to communicate with their loved one while being far away. They have kept letters that they wrote to them, but know that they aren't enough. They were cold and flat, and the loved one deserved more than that.
The chorus "Let me go home, I’m just too far from where you are" emphasizes the desperation to be close to their loved one. The last verse repeats the idea of another day passing by and the person still feeling alone. It ends with a hopeful tone that suggests the individual is finally coming back home, where everything will be alright.
Overall, this song beautifully captures the emotions of missing someone dear and the desire to be close to them again.
Line by Line Meaning
Another summer day
Another hot day during summertime.
Is come and gone away
The day has passed and gone too quickly.
In Paris and Rome
The singer has been traveling to these beautiful cities.
But I wanna go home
Despite being in these lovely places, the artist misses home.
Maybe surrounded by
The artist might be in the company of many people.
A million people I
The singer could be encircled by countless individuals.
Still feel all alone
Regardless, the singer feels lonely and isolated.
Just wanna go home
All the artist wants is to return home.
I miss you, you know
The artist is missing someone back home.
And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
The artist has been writing letters but not sending them.
Each one a line or two
The letters are short, only consisting of a few lines.
'I'm fine baby, how are you?'
The artist's letters are filled with empty pleasantries.
Well I would send them but I know that it's just not enough
The singer knows deep down that sending cold letters isn't an adequate replacement for seeing someone in person.
My words were cold and flat
The singer's letters lacked warmth and depth.
And you deserve more than that
The person receiving the letters deserves more than just impersonal messages.
Another airplane
The artist is again on an airplane.
Another sunny place
The destination is another hot and sunny city.
I'm lucky I know
The singer acknowledges their good fortune in being able to travel.
But I wanna go home
Despite being fortunate, the singer still wants to go back home.
I've got to go home
The artist has to return to their home.
Let me go home
The artist pleads to be allowed to return home.
I'm just too far from where you are
The artist is physically far from someone they miss.
I wanna come home
The singer wants to return to the familiar comforts of home.
And it feel just like I'm living someone elses life
Being away from home makes the artist feel disconnected from their own life.
It's like I just stepped outside
Being away feels like the singer is observing their life from a distance.
When everything was going right
The singer was happy before embarking on their travels.
And I know just why you could not
The singer understands why the person they miss couldn't accompany them.
Come along with me
The person the artist misses couldn't come on the trip.
Cause this was not your dream
The trip wasn't something the person back home dreamed of doing.
But you always believed in me
Despite not accompanying the singer, the person back home still supports them.
Another winter day has come
The season has changed, and it is now winter.
And gone away
The day has passed, and time is moving quickly.
And even Paris and Rome
The artist has been to these cities before but still misses home.
I wanna go home
The artist still wants to return home, even after many travels.
It'll all be all right
Everything will be fine once the singer is home again.
I'll be home tonight
The artist will arrive back home later today.
I'm coming back home
In spite of travels and good conditions, the singer will finally return to where they belong, their home.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JAREN JOHNSTON, NEIL MASON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Kayla M Cook
Two things:
1. How is my comment only the second one on this video??
2. Damian is so talented!!
Maria Dwi Hariyanti
WOW....