Gribbin Girls Acoustic Singing Duo

Edel Gribbin

All my life I’ve had such a passion for  music and Music has always seemed to play a part in my life from an early age, no matter how small.

I remember clearly on a Sunday evening lying in my bedroom listening to the top 40 on my cassette player and recording them so I could learn the lyrics off by heart. 

This love of music has stuck with me all throughout my primary and secondary school years.  

After having studied a year of a Foundation Art Degree in Belfast Art College it was then I realised my mistake in not having took music any further in my studies.

Art College was nearing an end and I took a complete U-turn and decided music was definitely  the route I wanted to take so I then applied for the music course in Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC). Two years had flew past and I gained my National Diploma in Music, Grade 7 in singing,Bodhran lessons alongside Clodagh and all has progressed on from there.

Clodagh Gribbin

Primary school was the earliest i remember singing, taking part in competitions like School Choir of the year and the Lough Neagh Feis with the school choir. Another memorable experience was being chosen to sing a solo at one of our teachers weddings.

With my voice being my main instrument, I began taking singing lessons in the early years of secondary school, carrying them on until my late teens. Upon finishing my A-levels in 2010, i started my studies of a BMus(Hons) at the University of Ulster, L/Derry until 2013. As an extra-curricular activity, i was a member of the University’s seventy – strong main choir and also joined the more exclusive chamber choir in my final year, preparing a wide range of choral pieces which we presented to audiences all over Ulster, performing in Stormont and for Bill Clinton on his visit to Derry City in 2014 to name a few.

Gribbin Girls

We the Gribbin Girls are an acoustic singing duo with a folk type vibe. Both of us started singing at a young age and then began to sing at weddings as a hobby. But within the last couple of years, we were gaining more and more recognition from not only our neighbours but people from further afield, so we decided to take the step and focus on music as our sole career.

Coming from quite a musical and artistic family we seen this as a natural transition. From beginning singing at wedding ceremonies, we then advanced onto singing at wedding drinks receptions, all the while, building up a large repertoire of songs from many genres of music to then progress to singing in bars.

While we were growing up we had many different influences music wise. Listening to ‘A Woman’s Heart’ album we were introduced to the likes of Mary Black, Eleanor McEvoy and Maura O’Connell to mention a few. Maura O’Connells cover of Cheryl Wheelers song, ‘Summerfly’ soon became our favourite, later becaming a well known ‘party piece’ of ours, which can also be heard on our E.P. A family member had also introduced us to the music of Christie Hennessy whilst growing up, an inspiring songwriter.  His song ‘Roll back the Clouds’ became another favourite of ours .

In the winter of 2014 we released a 6-track E.P. showcasing some of the songs that we cover at both weddings and gigs. In the very near future though we would love to be able to produce a full album with both originals and some of your favourite covers :).

2015 came along and it included us taking part, providing backing vocals for one of the final five participants competing for a place to represent Ireland in the Eurovision song contest which was broadcasted on the ‘The Late Late Show’ on RTE.  What a night it was!!

At the Gig’n the Bann 2015 festival, just a few months after the RTE show we appeared on stage before the renowned musician Phil Coulter (who also was one of the judges on the night for Eurovision), which was later aired by Column Sands on his folk club sessions. (see our “recordings” page for recordings”)