Garvan Gallagher is an Irish musician, best known as a Bass Guitar and Double-Bass player.
He was also the Musical Director of the popular RTE children's puppet series Bosco, writing and recording over 200 songs for the series between 1981 and 1987. Since the beginning of his career, he has contributed to many recordings as player and/or Producer, most notably Irish singer Mary Black's records of the 1980s and 1990s.
Born in 1951 in Dublin, he is the eldest son of Dr. James (Seamus) Gallagher, whose career took the family from Ireland, through the UK in the '50's, to India, Sri Lanka and Denmark in the 60's. His first band, Naima, (formed in 1974) was a Jazz-Rock vehicle, playing mainly in Dublin. They joined forces with Leo O'Kelly and Sonny Condell of ''Tir na nOg'', and Gallagher continues to play with both. The mid-seventies was a busy time of musical cross-pollination, when he played with Supply Demand and Curve, Sleepless Knights, Midnight Well, David Cross, and many singer-songwriters of the time. He was also in demand as a session bass-player for advertisements ("jingles"), film and TV soundtracks, including an appearance in and playing on the soundtrack of Neil Jordan's first film, "Angel", and orchestral work which called for bass-guitar, including Liam O'Flynn's The Brendan Voyage.
In 1979, he formed Metropolis, as an outlet for the compositions of Paul Barrett, Trevor Knight and himself, leading to the recording of the album "Morning Shadows" on the Ceirnini Claddaigh (Claddagh) label.
In the 1980s, Gallagher played in several versions of Auto-da-Fe, formed by ex-Naima keyboard player Trevor Knight and Gay Woods, and was a founding-member of the Fleadh Cowboys. At this time he also played with Paul Brady and Barry Moore/Luka Bloom, while also touring Ireland and the UK with the legendary Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Then followed twelve years playing in the band of Mary Black, taking them from local popularity in Ireland to international success and tours in the UK, US, Europe, Australasia and Japan. At the same time, he was working frequently with Performance Artist Nigel Rolfe, and Welsh/Breton singer Katell Keineg.
He has composed music for several plays, including Gaelic (Irish language) plays by Antoine O Flatharta at the Peacock Theatre, and for "Circus Born", a documentary about the Fossetts Circus family.
Since 2005, he has performed with Pierce Turner, in both band and duo situations.
His work now mainly consists of playing live, mainly with Leo O'Kelly, and also with various artists of different styles, and recording and producing independently-released cd's.