Susan McKeown

Susan McKeown is an Irish folk singer. She was born on February 6, 1967 in Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. Susan briefly attended the Municipal College of Music in Dublin as a teenager before abandoning a promising opera career in order to sing folk and rock. Together with John Doyle, McKeown formed The Chanting House in 1989. They released a cassette-only album called "The Chanting House" in 1990.

Susan briefly attended the Municipal College of Music in Dublin as a teenager before abandoning a promising opera career in order to sing folk and rock. Together with John Doyle, McKeown formed The Chanting House in 1989. They released a cassette-only album called "The Chanting House" in 1990.

Upon graduating from University College Dublin McKeown was awarded a scholarship to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan. So in 1990, with a bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland she relocated to New York City.

It was the release of "Bones" in 1995, an album of searing original songs with her take on a centuries-old keen (caoineadh) and a classic arrangement of Robert Burns' "Westlin' Winds" (later recorded by Fairport Convention) which secured her reputation as an inventive, emotion-centered singer-songwriter, and launched her solo touring and recording career.