Fil Campbell – brings songs from 1930s back to life

Fil Campbell videos
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Fil Campbell is a singer songwriter who is well known for championing the music of Irish female singers of the 1930s.

Campbell, who’s from Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, also performs songs from contemporary writers.

A Place of my Own Cover
A Place of my Own Cover

She presented the 2005 TV show Songbirds, which was a six-part series that documented the careers of famous Irish female singers who started their careers in the 1950s.

Many of the songs that featured in the Songbirds series are regular crowd favourites at Campbell’s concerts.

Campbell was still at school when she embarked on a professional singing career. The Troubles in Northern Ireland were still a prominent aspect of life for the people living there.

She performed in peace concerts with many of the great musicians and singers of the day such as Brendan Quinn and guitarist, Arty McGlynn.

Champion of Irish songwriters and women singers

Fil Campbell
Fil Campbell

Campbell has released six solo albums. Throughout her career, she has strived to emulate her heroes of the 1930s Irish folk scene and tried to keep their music alive for younger audiences.

Generations of Irish people grew up with iconic singers like Delia Murphy. Campbell enjoys performing Delia’s songs as much as her own.

Campbell’s own material explores love and relationships and her love of Ireland. At her concerts she is joined on stage by her husband, Tom McFarland, who plays the percussion and provides backing vocals, and mandolin/guitar player, Brendan Emmet.

As a champion of Irish songwriters and women singers, Campbell’s concerts are as informative as they are entertaining with her audience enjoying the songs of Irish stars from years gone by.

Her latest album, A Place of My Own, was released in 2012. Like her previous albums, it features songs that were made famous by singers she had profiled in her Songbirds TV series such as Delia Murphy, Mary O’Hara and Margaret Barry.

Final-versionFil Campbell
Fil Campbell videos
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