Margaret Barry

Margaret Brady
Birth name	Margaret Barry
Born	1917 Cork, Ireland
Died	1989
Genres	Traditional Irish, Sean Nós
Occupations	Travelling Musician
Instruments	Banjo
Associated acts	Michael Gorman

Margaret Barry (1917–1989) was a traditional Irish singer and banjo player.

Born in Cork into a family of Travellers and street singers, she taught herself how to play the zither banjo and the fiddle at a young age. At the age of sixteen, after a family disagreement, Margaret left home and started performing as a street musician.

In the early 1950s she moved to London. With her flamboyant delivery and idiosyncratic banjo-playing, Margaret Barry became well known in the pubs and clubs of Irish London in the 1950s and '60s, frequently accompanied by the fiddler Michael Gorman. The duo was an important part of London’s Irish exile music community, and Barry’s singing and banjo playing became a main influence on the younger generation of ballad singers in Ireland and the UK, including Luke Kelly.

See also

• Traditional Irish Singers
• Irish Travellers

External links

• Listen to Margaret Barry on Last FM
• Biography of Margaret Barry

Persondata
Name	Barry, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1917
Place of birth
Date of death	1990
Place of death