For other people named William Whelan, see William Whelan (disambiguation).
Bill Whelan
Birth name
William Michael Joseph Whelan[1]
Born
(1950-05-22) 22 May 1950 (age 73) Limerick, Ireland
Genres
Irish traditional music, Celtic, folk, rock
Occupations
Composer, musician, arranger, record producer, pianist
Instruments
Piano
Years active
1970–present
Musical artist
William Michael Joseph Whelan (born 22 May 1950) is an Irish composer and musician.[2] He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute piece of original music accompanying a new take on traditional Irish stepdance that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish traditional music and dance. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one in Ireland for 18 weeks and number nine in the UK. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995.
Whelan has also arranged a symphonic suite version of Riverdance, with its premiere performed by the Ulster Orchestra on BBC Radio 3 in August 2014.[3]
A studio recording was released on CD (on the RTÉ lyric fm label) in 2018.
^"Search results for 'Timedance'". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
^Much of the biographical information here is covered in an extensive interview with Marian Finucane on 16 April 2011 on RTÉ Radio 1
^"Prom 51 (part 1): Free Prom – Dvorak, Grieg, Bax and Bill Whelan". BBC Radio 3. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "BillWhelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one...
William Augustine Whelan (1 April 1935 – 6 February 1958), known as Billy Whelan or Liam Whelan, was an Irish footballer who played as an inside-forward...
mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by BillWhelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest...
acclaim. Subsequently, Johnny Moynihan, Paul Brady, Matt Molloy (flute), BillWhelan (keyboards), Nollaig Casey (fiddle) and briefly, Noel Hill (concertina)...
Look up whelan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The family name Whelan /ˈhwiːlən/ is an anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Faoláin. The surname originates...
Daniel Whelan (born 10 February 1999) is an Irish professional American football punter for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL)...
1987 by four college disk jockeys: Clay Tarver (guitar, now of Chavez), BillWhelan (bass), Corey "Loog" Brennan (guitar) and Chris "Cruster" Guttmacher...
Colin Dunne María Pagés Anúna Michael Londra Breandán de Gallaí Joanne Doyle Composers BillWhelan Ronan Hardiman Producers Moya Doherty John McColgan...
Band, Battlefield Band) who held the tenure on guitar for many years, BillWhelan on keyboards, Declan Masterson on uilleann pipes and keyboards, James...
William, Bill, or Billy Whelan may refer to: William Whelan (surgeon) (1808–1865), Chief of the US Bureau of Medicine and Surgery W. J. Whelan (union leader)...
William Joseph Whelan FRS (14 November 1924 – 5 June 2021) was a British-born American biochemist. He was professor and chair of biochemistry and molecular...
later. McGuinness and BillWhelan set up a music publishing company called McGuinness/Whelan Publishing in the late 1980s. Whelan later composed the music...
Seville Suite", describing events in 1601 in Irish-Spanish history. BillWhelan then worked for Spillane and Andy Irvine on the album, EastWind. In 1993...
Chieftains: BillWhelan on bagpipes, Liam O'Flynn on uilleann pipes and penny whistle, Seán Keane on fiddle and Dónal Lunny on bouzouki. Whelan is credited...
is a studio album by the Irish folk group The Dubliners. Produced by BillWhelan, who later became famous for Riverdance, this album featured cellist...
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