Nominees

Pauline Scanlon was born into a family of singers and musicians in the creative hive that is Dingle, Co. Kerry. Pauline was singing as soon as she could speak. One of Pauline’s earliest champions was Tony Small, a singer, writer, broadcaster and musicologist. Tony organised Pauline’s first live performance at the age of 13, introducing her to a broad variety of musical styles and encouraging her to write her own material. The diverse musical influences that surrounded Pauline as she grew up meant she was equally at home with the traditional singing of the area as she was with her quest for new and interesting sounds to play on her walkman.

Pauline left Kerry during her teenage years, travelling through Europe and Australia, where each stopover brought a new song to learn, a new language to master, a new musical style to consume. During her time on the road, Pauline performed with local folk singers and in Australia, she sang with aboriginal musicians, including the internationally celebrated didgeridoo virtuoso Alan Dargin

On her return to Ireland, Pauline settled in Galway where she met two musicians who have helped shape her musical path:

The first was Donogh Hennessy, guitarist at the time with celebrated Irish band Lunasa. Donogh worked with Pauline to record RED COLOUR SUN, her critically acclaimed debut album. Pauline attributes Donogh’s understanding of the delicate balance between music, tradition and modernism as a key factor in the overall feel of her album

The second was the internationally renowned, award winning accordion player Sharon Shannon. Sharon heard Pauline at a session in a pub in Galway and was hugely impressed with her vocal style, describing it as “unique, gorgeous and bursting with passion and sincerity”. Sharon invited Pauline to lay down a few tracks at her Galway studio and subsequently asked Pauline to join her touring band, The Woodchoppers, as guest vocalist. Pauline has since performed with Sharon throughout Ireland, the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Finland, Canada, Australia and Japan. She has performed at Glastonbury twice, at major folk festivals including Edmonton in Canada, Port Fairy in Australia and WOMAD in Reading and in Los Palmas. She also contributed a song to Sharon’s 2003, Top 5, platinum selling album Libertango, Pauline’s vocals sitting comfortably alongside those of Sinead O’Connor and Kirsty MacColl.

With John Dunford’s Hummingbird label on board, Pauline began working in earnest on RED COLOUR SUN. Sessions started at Sharon’s studio in Galway and continued in London under the guidance of producer and drummer John Reynolds (Sinead O’Connor, The Indigo Girls, Hothouse Flowers, Cara Dillon, Nasurat Fatah Ali Khan, Bjiork, Damien Dempsey), who allowed Pauline to incorporate the wide and varied styles and genres she has been exposed to throughout her teenage years. As she says “I had tried to make this album three times and never saw my own reflection in it until I came to London and got John Reynolds on board”. Pauline’s aim with the record was to “treat the traditional material in the same manner as the more contemporary material - as an illustration and reflection of where I've come from, where I am at the moment and where I'm off to next.”

Pauline is fearless in her selection of material and subject matter and RED COLOUR SUN reflects the diversity of her musical influences. She eschews musical boundaries, drawing inspiration from the song collectors that fill the pubs and sessions of Ireland. Pauline lines up alongside those who sing a song regardless of where it came from, those who embrace a song regardless of its history or the voice that might have made it famous. She is not in the least afraid to mix the traditional and the contemporary. For Pauline, the only criteria is the feeling behind the song. “The songs that interest me are those that are filled with raw emotion, the kind that make your heart scream. I like old traditional songs that have darkness in them like What Put The Blood. I like simple country love songs like Valentine… Variety is where it's at for me, as well as the truth in the words of the songs. In Irish, when you ask someone to sing a song you say "abair amhran" which directly translated means "say a song" as opposed to sing a song. I think you have to believe what you're saying in order to make a song work, it's on this basis that I pick my material.”

RED COLOUR SUN moves effortlessly from the traditional Molly Ban to the contemporary Churchyard and on to Scanlon’s own interpretation of Don McLean’s And I Love You So. The album features a broad sweep of international musicians including Damien Dempsey, Sharon Shannon, John Reynolds, Clare Kenny, Kieran Kiely, Caroline Dale, Justin Adams and Donogh Hennessy.

Pauline has recently taken part in the second series of “Other Voices – Songs from a Room” along with Paddy Casey, David Kitt, Luka Bloom and Declan O’Rourke. Filmed in St James Church in Dingle in December 2003. Other television performances include “Coulter And Company”, “Up For The Match” and a ten minute feature on TG4’s “An Tua Nua

Pauline also performed backing vocals on Irish singer-songwriter John Spillane’s new album “Hey Dreamer” which saw her back in the studio with RED COLOUR SUN producer John Reynolds

Over the course of 2004, Pauline performed her own solo shows to widespread critical acclaim. She performed at 2004’s Source Festival in Kilkenny alongside James Taylor and Bob Geldof. 2004 also saw Pauline special guest with The Violent Femmes and Paddy Casey.

In 2004 Pauline also contributed a track to “The Diamond Mountain Sessions Presents…” A compilation album featuring Natalie Merchant, Declan O’ Rourke, Steve Earle, Sinead O’ Connor and Irish favourites Mundy and Damien Dempsey.

She was nominated in 2005 for a meteor award in the Folk/Trad category alongside Planxty, Mary McPartlin, George Murphy, Kila and Declan O' Rourke.