Nominees

'Christy' Moore (born 7 May 1945, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland) is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty. His first album, Paddy on the Road was recorded with Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan) in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.

 1970 brought his first major release, Prosperous (named after the village of Prosperous, County Kildare, where the album was recorded), which brought together the four musicians who shortly thereafter formed Planxty: Liam Óg O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, and Dónal Lunny. For a time they called themselves "CLAD", an acronym of their names, but soon decided on Planxty.

After leaving Planxty in 1975, Moore continued on his solo career, reforming his old band on occasion (which he has been doing ever since). He also formed the band Moving Hearts with Lunny and five other musicians in 1980. In 2000 he published his autobiography, One Voice.

Moore is best known for his political and social commentary, which reflects a leftwing Irish Republican perspective.He supported the republican H-Block protestors in the 1970s and 1980s with the album H-Block in 1978, the launch of which was raided by the police, and The Spirit of Freedom. He has also recorded songs by the hunger striker Bobby Sands. However, in 1987 he ceased supporting the military activities of the IRA as a result of the Enniskillen bombing.Individual songs he has written throughout his career include 'On the Blanket' about the protests of republican prisoners, 'Viva la Quinta Brigada' about Irish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and 'Minds Locked Shut' about Bloody Sunday in Derry.

Moore has endorsed a long list of left wing support causes. ranging from El Salvador, to Mary Robinson in the 1990 Presidential Election.At Glastonbury Festival in 2005 he sang about the Palestinian solidarity activist Rachel Corrie.

His solo style includes driving rhythms on guitar and bodhrán as well as slower ballads. On Friday 6 October 2006 Christy paid a surprise visit to the legendary An Góilín traditional singers' club in Dublin. There, before fifty or so people, Christy took out his guitar (instruments are rarely used in An Góilín, it being a singers' refuge) and sang songs reflective of the Irish language and socially radical culture of the club such as Na Conghailigh, about the deaths of Tomás and Seán Ó Conghaile off Conamara, and Viva la Quinta Brigada, about the role of the Irish fighting with the socialists in the Spanish Civil War.

With typical Moore social consciousness, he opened the festival marking Ballymun's inception as Dublin's first Fairtrade Town on 23 November 2006. Ballymun, once synonymous with social deprivation and drug problems, is currently the largest urban regeneration project in northern Europe. In June 2007, Christy was guest on Desert Island Discs, a BBC programme that is often considered an accolade. He selected mainly Irish folk music that had inspired him and spoke frankly of personal and political issues that had shaped his life.

Moore's brother Barry, whose stagename is Luka Bloom, is also a successful singer-songwriter. His nephew, Conor Byrne, is also an accomplished traditional flautist and tin whistle player, with Christy appearing on his Wind Dancer album.