The Chieftains bio

The Chieftains are an Irish musical group founded in 1963, known for performing and popularizing Irish traditional music. The name Chieftain derives from the English language translation of the Irish Gaelic word Taoiseach, meaning a clann chief or leader. Some historians suggest that in ancient Ireland (whence these terms originate), a taoiseach was a minor king. In Scottish Gaelic; tòiseach translates as clan chief and both words originally had similar meaning in the Goidelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The related Welsh language word tywysog appears to have had a similar meaning. The band has recorded many albums of instrumental Irish folk music, as well as multiple collaborations with popular musicians of many genres, including Country music, Galician traditional music, Cape Breton and Newfoundland music, and rock and roll. They have performed with Van Morrison, Moya Brennan, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roger Daltrey, Nancy Griffith, Tom Jones, Sinéad O'Connor, James Galway, The Corrs, Art Garfunkel, Sting, Rosanne Cash, Jim White, Tom Partington, Lyle Lovett, and numerous Country-western artists. In 1975, the group won praise for their playing of Women of Ireland for Stanley Kubrick's movie Barry Lyndon. The group have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. They have also won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Genie. In 2002 they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK's BBC Radio 2. The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.

Source: Wikipedia