Nominees

From an early age Tommy's natural singing talent was on show in local talent competitions and concerts. After finishing secondary school in 1990, Tommy played the local scene with a couple of bands but it was his meeting with composer, Phil Coulter in Westport, County Mayo that changed his career. Within a few short months of this meeting, he'd appeared at the Cork Opera House, and The National Concert Hall in Dublin. He then went on a tour of the United States, which included appearances at Carnegie Hall and the Boston Symphony Hall.

After his return to Ireland, he joined the group De Dannan. (Mary Black, Maura O'Connell, and Dolores Keane had been previous lead vocalists of this group.) With De Dannan, Tommy's voice was brought to Australia, China, Hong Kong, and, once again, the United States.Tommy left De Dannan in 1996 to pursue a solo career.

His first solo effort, Different Side of Life, was released in 1996. In 1998, Tommy released Restless Spirit. Sand & Water and The Contender were the two albums that followed Restless Spirit. The Contender brought Tommy back to the roots of traditional Irish music. The continued successes of his albums throughout 2000 and 2001 would lead to his first tour of Japan.

On December 12, 2004, Tommy recorded a concert at Knock Shrine Basilica in Knock, County Mayo, This superb building has a capacity of 5,000 and had been host to Holy Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II on the pontiff's visit to Ireland in September 1979. Tommy's was the first concert of its kind to be held there. PBS began broadcasting the recording of the concert under the title Voice of Hope in the United States in August 2005. The estimated North American viewing audience was 100,000,000.

In 2006 Tommy Fleming released his first studio album in 3 years, entitled A Life Like Mine, and it included songs that Tommy had wanted to record for some time, including Jimmy MacCarthy's "Mystic Lipstick" and Phil Coulter's "Scorn Not His Simplicity". The album went straight to number 5 in the Album charts. The following year he went on to release his second live album A Journey Home.

In 2007 Tommy recorded his new live show A Journey Home in Ireland's National Events Centre Killarney to an audience of 2,000. It will be released on CD and DVD in 2008, and features twenty two songs from Irelands most celebrated and acclaimed writers and poets. "A Journey Home" includes classical Irish songs such as "The Cliffs Of Dooneen", "Isle Of Inisfree" and "Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears".

Upon the release of his live album A Journey Home Tommy Fleming was asked in an interview what would be next for him. He stated that he's going to work on his next studio album, as well as writing an autobiography.