Dónal Lunny
Biography
Dónal Lunny (born in Tullamore, County Offaly, on 10 March 1947; died 23 October 2026) was an accomplished Irish traditional musician who played guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozaik, LAPD, and Usher's Island, he was at the forefront of the renaissance of Irish traditional music for over five decades. Lunny was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2018. In 2025, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the RTÉ Radio 1 Irish Folk Awards.
Born in Tullamore, then moved to Newbridge, County Kildare, as a teenager Lunny joined a band called Rakes of Kildare, with Christy Moore. Lunny’s Emmet Folk Group and Michael and Brian Byrne’s Spiceland Folk Group joined forces to form The Emmet Spiceland. Their debut album ‘The First’ was released in 1968. They were a vocal harmony group and reached number one in Ireland with the single “Mary From Dungloe”. In 1971 he played on Prosperous, the first album by Christy Moore.
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The musicians from Prosperous assembled in 1972 under the name Planxty. The band became a leading proponent of Irish traditional instrumental music for the next ten years. In 1975 Lunny left them to form The Bothy Band, playing guitar and bouzouki.
Planxty disbanded in 1978. Lunny became a session musician on Davey and Morris, the first album to feature Shaun Davey.
After Planxty, Lunny formed The Bothy Band in 1974, playing guitar and bouzouki. The Bothy Band quickly became one of the prominent bands performing Irish traditional music. Their enthusiasm and musical virtuosity had a significant influence on the Irish traditional music movement that continued well after they disbanded in 1979.
Lunny then got together with Christy Moore again in 1981, to form Moving Hearts. Another founding member was the (then young) uilleann piper, Davy Spillane.
From 2002 onwards, Lunny and Andy Irvine founded a multicultural band called Mozaik, with Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov and Rens van der Zalm.
On 20 January 2012, Lunny appeared on stage with LAPD, the latest grouping of players from Planxty.
On 27 January 2015, Lunny's latest musical association performed at Celtic Connections 2015 in Glasgow as Usher's Island (a reference to the Dublin quay where James Joyce's story "The Dead" is set).
Lunny contributed to contemporary music in Ireland: as well as touring with many musicians (including Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin, Michael McGoldrick, Paul Brady and Kevin Burke). In September 2016 he formed a trio with Zoë Conway and Máirtín O'Connor. Amongst his last performances before his death was with this trio at Ireland's Electric Picnic festival in August 2026 and at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann [All-Ireland Fleadh] in Belfast, also in August 2026.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.