Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan (born 22 May 1950 in Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute display of traditional Irish dancing that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish dancing and Celtic music and also won him a Grammy. It was released as a single in the UK in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number 9 and stayed in the charts for 16 weeks. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995.
Whelan has also composed a symphonic suite version of "Riverdance", with its premiere performed by the Ulster Orchestra on BBC Radio 3 in August 2014.
Biography.
Whelan is a native of Limerick, and was educated at Crescent College, University College Dublin and the King's Inns. While he is best known for his "Riverdance" composition, Whelan has been involved in many ground-breaking projects in Ireland since the 1970s. As a producer he has worked with U2 (on their War album), Van Morrison, Kate Bush, The Dubliners, Planxty, Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane, Patrick Street, Stockton's Wing and fellow Limerickman Richard Harris.
As an arranger and composer, his credits include:
In theatre, Whelan received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his adaption of Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore". He wrote original music for 15 of W. B. Yeats's plays for Dublin's Abbey Theatre and his film credits include, "Dancing at Lughnasa" (starring Meryl Streep), "Some Mother's Son", "Lamb" (starring Liam Neeson) and the award-winning "At The Cinema Palace".
Career timeline.
Whelan's lifetime of musical endeavours include:
Discography.
As a keyboard player, or as an arranger, he has contributed to these albums: