Sheumas MacNeil (piano, keyboard, vocals)
Kyle MacNeil (violin, acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, vocals)
Stewart MacNeil (vocals, accordian, keyboards, whistle, flute, electric guitar)
Lucy MacNeil (vocals, bodhran, celtic harp, backing vocals, viola, violin)
and occasionally:
Ryan MacNeil (uillean pipes)
Boyd MacNeil (violin)
James Gatti (bass)
Growing up in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, the MacNeils were exposed to Cape Breton traditional music at a young age. Their was often the setting where musicians of every walk of life would drop in for a session. They added the prefix Barra in honour of their family's ancestral homeland - the Scottish Isle of Barra.
They supplemented their musical background in the aural tradition with formal music training at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick with touring between summer holidays and school breaks.
They began playing professionally in the early 1980's and recorded three independent albums. 1986's 'Rock In The Stream' featured the song "The Island" that became quite popular from the CBC-TV movie 'Island Love Song', in which the Barra MacNeils sang and acted. They also played themselves in the Disney film 'The Little Kidnappers' filmed in Nova Scotia.
Soon the major labels began paying attention in the early '90's especially with the success of the Rankin Family in popularizing Celtic/maritime music, it was only a matter of time before Polygram scooped them up.
'Closer To Paradise' was the public's big exposure to the act with the remake of John Sebastian's "Darling Be Home Soon". In August 1995 The Canadian Recording Industry Association certified 'Closer to Paradise' gold (50,000 copies). The band also become winners of the Roots/ Traditional Artist Category at the East Coast Music Awards.
Their follow-up, 'The Question', featured a duet with Bruce Cockburn on his own "Goin' Down The Road" and a cover version of Marianne Faithful's "The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan".
In 1996 the Barra MacNeils won Pop-Rock Artists of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards (!?!).
And in 1997 they are nominated for Group of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards as well as Entertainer of the year.
They returned in April 2000 withthe Danny Greenspoon-produced "Racket In The Attic", released on their own Barratone label.
Singles
1993 "Darling Be Home Soon" (Polydor/Polygram)
Albums
1986 The Barra MacNeils (Barra Music)
1989 Rock In The Stream (Barra Music)
1992 Timeframe (Barra Music)
1993 The Barra MacNeils [re-issue](Polydor/Polygram)
1993 Rock In The Stream [re-issue](Polydor/Polygram)
1993 Timeframe [re-issue](Polydor/Polygram)
1993 Closer to Paradise (Polydor/Polygram)
1994 The Traditional Album (Polydor/Polygram)
1995 The Question (Mercury/Polydor)
1996 The Barra MacNeils (Polydor/Polygram)
1997 Till Now (Polydor/Polygram)
2000 Racket In The Attic (Barratone/Oasis)
Video
Compilation Tracks
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