Leahy

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This article is about the Canadian band. For other uses, see Leahy (disambiguation).

Leahy is the name of a Canadian folk music group. The eight band members, all from the Leahy family of eleven siblings, are from Lakefield, Ontario and have been actively touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s when they were known as The Leahy Family. In 1985, they were the subject of a short film entitled Leahy: Music Most of All which received an Academy Award in the category of "Best Foreign Student Film"[1].

The line-up of the group varies depending upon the availability of its members who come and go due to marriage, raising children, and other commitments. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the band recorded a number of privately-released LPs and cassettes (most of which used the same title, The Leahy Family) which were sold at their concerts and they were frequent guests at the Big Valley Jamboree concerts in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

In 1997 the band resumed recording with their "relaunch" album, Leahy which also introduced the group's new branding. Leahy was an instrumental album, but the band also includes vocal performances in their live performances and subsequent albums have included both vocals and instrumentals.

Despite their already-established history, they were awarded two Juno awards in 1998, for best new group and for and best instrumental artist. The following year, Leahy took a third Juno Award, for best country group.

The group's members are both instrumentalists and dancers, with several members skilled in fiddle-playing (most notably the group's best-known member, Donnell Leahy). The female members of the band often perform step-dancing-style routines, and it is generally the female members of the group who sing.

[edit] Members

All members of the band are siblings. Each member has a main role they play in the band; although most play more than one instrument and step dance. Interesting side-notes are that Donnell Leahy is married to Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster and Frank is married to champion step dancer Chanda Gibson . Several members of Leahy studied piano with Canadian pianist and composer, Fredrick Pritchard. Erin (Leahy's pianist) continues classical studies with Pritchard.