“She sang like an angel. She walked through this world like an angel, and now she’s back with her own kind”: Bono and others pay tribute to Clannad singer Moya Brennan

It’s been announced that Moya Brennan, the lead singer and harpist of Irish folk group Clannad, has died. She was 73.

Brennan had apparently been living with pulmonary fibrosis for some time and was facing the prospect of a double lung transplant. A statement from her family said that she died peacefully in her native County Donegal.

Brennan and Clannad’s role in modern Irish and Gaelic-language music cannot be overestimated. Formed back in 1970 as a family group of Moya, her two brothers and two uncles (younger sister Enya would also join later), they slowly built a reputation in Ireland during that decade, before signing to RCA in 1982 and acquiring as manager Dave Kavanagh, one of the key figures in the Irish rock scene who had played a role in Thin Lizzy and the Boomtown Rats’ rise to fame.

CLANNAD - Top Of The Pops TOTP (BBC - 1982) [HQ Audio] - Theme from Harry's game - YouTube

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They were commissioned to provide the title music to the ITV drama Harry’s Game and incredibly their theme, a haunting synth-assisted track, went Top Five in the UK that November. It remains the highest-charting Irish Gaelic song in the British charts.

Clannad’s albums were by now blurring new age music with folk and pop and further success followed. They recorded the theme song to another ITV series Robin Hood in 1984 and their 1985 album Macalla produced another UK hit single – the Bono-featuring In A Lifetime reached the Top 20 the following year.

Brennan also started a parallel solo career and continued recording up until 2024. Over the course of their four-decade-long career, Clannad sold over 40 million albums.

Tributes have already been coming in for Brennan. Talking to the Irish Independent Bono said that the singer had an “otherworldly voice”.

“She sang like an angel. She walked through this world like an angel, and now she’s back with her own kind. We love you Moya.”

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in a post on social media that he was deeply saddened at the passing of Moya Brennan who was “an iconic Irish voice.”

“Along with her Clannad bandmates, Moya brought Irish folk music to the international stage. Deepest sympathies to Moya’s family and friends at this difficult time.”