Biography

Feeney was a native of Swinford

Swinford

Swinford, historically called Swineford , is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is surrounded by the settlements of Midfield, Meelick, Culmore, Cloonaghboy, Killasser and other villages. It is on the N5 road, located 18 km from Ireland West Airport Knock...

, County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

. After nine years working in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 as a labourer, in 1928 he emigrated to the USA, where for thirty years he was one of the leading Irish-American musicians, rated alongside Michael Coleman

Michael Coleman

Michael Coleman may refer to:*Michael Coleman , Canadian performer, voice of numerous anime characters*Michael Coleman , English writer of books for children and young adults; candidate for the 1996 Carnegie Medal...

, James Morrison

James Morrison

James Morrison is the name of:In music:* James Morrison , English singer/songwriter* James Morrison , Irish fiddler* Jim Morrison , poet and lead singer of The Doors...

 and The Flanagan Brothers. He became a labelmate of Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 and Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 on Decca Record Company, and was a regular performer on The Shaefer Show on radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

.

Feeney's voice was described as easy, warm and relaxed, his repertoire including Irish favourites such as Galway Bay

Galway Bay

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city is located on the northeast side of the bay. It is about long and from to in breadth...

 and Moonlight In Mayo, as well as recitals of Mozart, Handel

HANDEL

HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

 and Schubert lieder

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

. He regularly played sold-out performances in Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

.

John Feeney returned to Ireland in 1964, where he died three years later.

External links

• http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Feeney_John.html
• http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/AMusic/JohnFeeney.html
• http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2003/0728/1059177984118.html