ABOUT
Eleanor's professional singing career began with De Danann in 1990 with whom she recorded two critically acclaimed albums ‘A Jacket of Batteries’ and ‘Half Set in Harlem’. Her first solo album ‘Eleanor Shanley’ was produced by Donal Lunny and was followed in 1997 by ‘Desert Heart’, produced by Neil MacColl.
In 1998 she joined forces with the inimitable Ronnie Drew and made the album ‘A Couple More Years’ in 2000. This was to see herself and Ronnie tour together for many years alongside Mike Hanrahan (Stocktons Wing) and they made a second album ‘El Amor De Mi Vida’ in 2006 produced by Mike. They continued working together until Ronnie’s untimely death in 2008.
In 2001 Eleanor made the platinum status album ‘Eleanor Shanley and Friends’ which included Ronnie Drew, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, De Danann, Ray Lynam, Christy Hennessy, Charlie McGettigan, Eddie Reader and Dessie O’Halloran, Johnny Duhan among others. She has also recorded with The Dubliners, Patrick Bergin and Tommy Fleming and toured with Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Mike Hanrahan, John Feeley, Charlie McGettigan and Garadice.
2004 saw the release of ‘Another Day’s Journey’ with American Gospel
singer Ivan LeParr which was nominated for a meteor music award.
In 2007 ‘A Place of My Own’ was released with Frankie Lane and Paul
Kelly.
2010 was to see her return to De Danann with whom she released ‘Wonderwaltz’. As well as touring as a solo artist she was involved in ‘Folk the Recession’, a group set up in 2011 comprising of some of Ireland’s top entertainers.
In 2008 Eleanor sang on ‘The Ballad of Ronnie Drew’ with, among others, U2, The Dubliners, Shane McGowan, Paul Brady, Damien Dempsey, The Chieftains, The Corrs, Sinead O’Connor and Bob Geldof.
In 2014 Eleanor was invited by Leitrim County Council and Arts Officer Philip Delamere to spearhead the Leitrim Equation 4 Project.
2014 also saw Eleanor being selected as Leitrim Guardian Person of the Year.
2016 saw the release of her solo album ‘Forever Young’, produced by Donogh Hennessy. The track ‘Gorgeous and Bright’ written by the late Thom Moore was the most played song on RTE Radio 1 for the summer of 2016.
Also in 2016 Eleanor received the Danish Folk Award at Skagen Festival, Denmark.
Eleanor and John Feeley recorded their album ‘Cancion de Amor’ in 2020. The album was the album of the week on Marty Whelan’s ‘Marty in the Morning’ show on RTE Lyric FM.
She is also a founding member of ‘Garadice’ together with Padraig McGovern, John McCartin and Dave Sheridan. To date they have released two critically acclaimed albums.
With Ultan Conlon and Jim Higgins she is part of a show called “Sweep Down to the Sea, The Songs of Percy French” which is proving to be very popular and for which there is great demand.
For the 50th anniversary of one of Europe’s largest Folk and Roots Festival in Tønder, Denmark, Eleanor was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2024.
Following on from her time with Ronnie Drew Eleanor has spent many years working with Mike Hanrahan. Although they have toured together, 2025 marks their first recording together as a duo.
Produced by Bill Shanley their 4 track EP “The Ghost of You” is due for release on 5 June 2026. Prior to the release of the EP they released “Craggy Hill”, a song written by Mike to commemorate the women of the revolution.
To mark their time spent with Ronnie Drew, and celebrate the great memories from that time, the duo released “A Couple more Years” in May 2026.
This EP will be accompanied by and extensive tour of Ireland by Eleanor and Mike.
Alongside her music career Eleanor is a keen painter. She paints in acrylics, oils and watercolour focusing on both abstract and realism. Her first solo exhibition will take place on 6 August 2026 in The Pembroke Hotel, Kilkenny.
“Exquisite” & “Folk Roots of the highest order” - Colm O’Hare, Hot Press
“Exquisitely beautiful” – Irish Music Magazine
“Gorgeous And Bright” – No 1 played song on RTE Radio 1, summer 2016
‘Cancion de Amor’
Recorded in the beautiful Meelick Friary nestled next to the River Shannon in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, Cancion de Amor by Eleanor Shanley and John Feeley is now on release. “Completing the album and its subsequent release in December 2020 was a very fulfilling and positive outcome from a year we mostly spent in lockdown”, said Eleanor. She continued, “Trying to release an album during a pandemic is a challenge, but a good challenge. We adjusted and feel very privileged to have been able to see it through.”
The thirteen-track long play features so many beautiful songs including the Brendan Graham and Tim McCarrick original, Cancion de Amor, which also gives the album its title. Eleanor remembers “We both fell in love with Cancion de Amor on our first listen and were thrilled when Brendan gave it to us for the record. John is our country’s finest classical guitarist and we both believe Cancion de Amor is perfect and indeed enhances our creative partnership on this record.”
Brendan Graham says, “I am very excited about this, my first recording by Eleanor, whom I’ve long admired and in tandem with the brilliant John Feeley, whom I know from my youth in Ballinasloe.”
“The lyrics are to a tune by Tim McCarrick, a dear friend from Pennsylvania, who loved Ireland and Irish music. Tim sadly passed away in December some years back but I’m sure he is casting a listening ear to this beautiful recording of our song. Eleanor and John have graciously dedicated their recording of Cancion de Amor to Tim’s memory while according us the honour of making it the title track to this collector’s item album.”
Eleanor and John first met in London in the 1990s, when Eleanor was touring with De Dannan. “It was a chance encounter at Liverpool Street Station when we were both passing through.” Eleanor reminisces. They did not meet again for nearly twenty-five years, when John was doing a show in Eleanor’s now hometown of Ballinasloe. They almost immediately started chatting about doing some work together. They have since worked on some live shows together (Clifden Arts Festival, The Seaview Sessions, The Unitarian Church, Jung Symbols and Songs Of The Soul and many others), and Cancion de Amor is the result of their recording collaboration. “I have been an admirer of John’s work for so long and love all of his performances on this record. However, I think his playing on the track Coolin is sublime,” says Eleanor. They both love how John’s classical and Spanish influenced guitar styles work with Eleanor’s voice. The resulting long play is a beautiful body of work to listen to.
While this new album’s recording started some time ago, 2020 gifted both the time needed to finish the album. John was born in Ballinasloe and now lives in Co. Wicklow and while born and raised in Co. Leitrim Eleanor now lives in Ballinasloe so both were familiar with the church where the record was recorded. St. Francis Church, Meelick Friary has been in use since 1414 AD, making it the most continuously used Roman Catholic Church in the country. To our joy, Fr Declan McInerney kindly gave us permission to record our album at this historic and beautiful location and when Covid restrictions allowed we set about completing the album also in the same location.
Together with its title track, Cancion de Amor, the album features many other original songs including the gloriously gentle and beautiful, Child Of Mine by Bernadette McGuigan (John’s sister in law), the divine Sand and Water by Beth Nielsen Chapman together with some newly composed pieces of music by John, including The Cloths Of Heaven and The Immigrant’s Song. Others include Siúil A Rún, MyBonny Light Horseman and Dumbarton’s Drumsall new arrangements by John and Eleanor. The ConTempo String Quartet also features strongly on this album.
Eleanor and John share a meeting of musical minds, loves and styles and out of this has come Cancion de Amor. It is a privilege to now be able to have this beautiful body of work born out of a unique and very special collaboration.
Cancion de Amor is available to buy digitally from iTunes and the CD via mail order from both eleanorshanley.ie and johnfeeley.ie
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CHILD OF MINE
Bernadette McGuigan (Cop/Con Bernadette McGuigan)
2. ALL ROADS LEAD TO YOU
Boo Hewerdine/Findlay Napier (Chrysalis Music Ltd/PRS0
3. CANCION DE AMOR
Music: Tim McCarrick (Alfred Music - ASCAP)
Words: Brendan Graham (Peermusic (UK) Ltd)
4. THE COOLIN
Trad. Arr. Feeley
5. MY BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN
Trad. Arr. Feeley / Shanley
6. CAROLAN’S FAREWELL (to music)
Trad. Arr. Feeley
7. SIÚIL A RÚN
Trad. Arr. Feeley / Shanley
8. THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN
Words: W. B. Yeats; Music: John Feeley
9. THE IMMIGRANT’S SONG
John Feeley
10. DUMBARTON’S DRUMS
Trad. Arr. Feeley / Shanley
11. SAND AND WATER
Beth Nielsen Chapman (BNC Songs; ASCAP)
12. DONEGAL
John Feeley
13. SHANNON WATERS
Gerard Donovan/John Feeley
Eleanor Shanley – Vocals
John Feeley – Guitars (Stephen Hill 2016 Ceder Guitar, Ariel Ameijenda 2018 Ceder Guitar)
Bogdan Sofei - Violin 1
Ingrid Nicola - Violin 2
Craig Pecherek - Viola
Adrian Mantu - Cello
Accordion - Dermot Dunne
Violin - Lynda O’Connor
Cello - Gerald Peregrine
Percussion- Dave McCune
Produced by John Feeley
Engineer at Meelick Church – John Feeley
Engineer at Ventry Studios – Dave McCune
Engineer at Beechpark Studios– Daire Winston
Editing and mixing by Dave McCune and John Feeley
Mastered byJim Salamone at Cambridge Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pa, USA