Bill Whelan

For other people named William Whelan, see William Whelan (disambiguation).

Bill Whelan
Birth nameWilliam Michael Joseph Whelan[1]
Born (1950-05-22) 22 May 1950 (age 74)
Limerick, Ireland
GenresIrish traditional music, Celtic, folk, rock
OccupationsComposer, musician, arranger, record producer, pianist
InstrumentsPiano
Years active1970–present

William Michael Joseph Whelan (born 22 May 1950) is an Irish composer and musician.[2] He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute piece of original music accompanying a new take on traditional Irish stepdance that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish traditional music and dance. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one in Ireland for 18 weeks and number nine in the UK. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995.

Whelan has also arranged a symphonic suite version of Riverdance, with its premiere performed by the Ulster Orchestra on BBC Radio 3 in August 2014.[3]

A studio recording was released on CD (on the RTÉ lyric fm label) in 2018.

  1. ^ "Search results for 'Timedance'". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  2. ^ Much of the biographical information here is covered in an extensive interview with Marian Finucane on 16 April 2011 on RTÉ Radio 1
  3. ^ "Prom 51 (part 1): Free Prom – Dvorak, Grieg, Bax and Bill Whelan". BBC Radio 3. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.