List of American musicians of Irish descent

This is a list of notable Irish-American musicians.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article and/or references showing the person is Irish American and a notable musician.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Musicians

A–J

• Christina Aguilera – singer-songwriter; Ecuadorian father and Irish-American mother
• Tori Amos – singer-songwriter and musician
• Anastacia – singer-songwriter
• Michelle Branch – part Irish through her father[1]
• Laura Branigan – singer-songwriter and musician
• Jeff Buckley – estranged son of Tim Buckley
• Tim Buckley – father was the son of Irish immigrants
• Chris Byrne – pop musician[2]
• Mariah Carey – pop musician[3]
• Aaron Carter – singer and Nick Carter's brother
• Nick Carter – member of the boy band Backstreet Boys
• Dennis Casey – Flogging Molly member[4]
• Ken Casey – bass player and vocalist for the Boston-based Celtic punk-rock band Dropkick Murphys[5]
• Celtic Spring – family dance and fiddle band[6]
• Kelly Clarkson – pop singer[7]
• Rosemary Clooney – singer and actress[8]
• Kurt Cobain – singer-songwriter of the rock band Nirvana[9]
• George M. Cohan – singer-songwriter; vaudeville and Broadway theatre performer
• Edward Joseph Collins – composer
• Judy Collins – singer/songwriter[10]
• Alice Cooper – of partial Irish descent
• Copywrite – rapper; mixed Irish and Italian descent
• Billy Corgan – singer, lead guitarist of alternative-rock band The Smashing Pumpkins[11]
• Chris Cornell – lead singer of rock band Soundgarden[12]
• Frankie Cosmos – of Irish descent on her father's side
• Henry Cowell – composer
• Auli'i Cravalho – singer and actress of partial Irish descent
• Bing Crosby – singer and actor[13]
• Chris Daughtry – American Idol 2006 finalist; lead singer of the rock band Daughtry
• Dennis Day – singer
• Lee DeWyze – American Idol 2010 winner
• Marié Digby – singer-songerwriter[14]
• Howie Dorough – member of the boy band Backstreet Boys; Irish father
• Jimmy Dorsey – jazz musician[15]
• Tommy Dorsey – jazz musician[16]
• Hilary Duff – actress and singer/songwriter
• Billie Eilish – singer-songwriter, director, actress, musician, and first female and youngest artist ever to win all 4 general field categories at the Grammy Awards
• Everlast (born 1969) – singer-songwriter; known for his genre-crossing mix of rap and acoustic-based rock music[17]
• Eileen Farrell – opera singer[18]
• Fergie – pop singer
• Michael Fitzpatrick  – frontman of Fitz and the Tantrums
• John Fogerty – singer-songwriter for rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Judy Garland – singer and actress[19]
• Billy Gibbons – guitarist and singer for rock band ZZ Top; has Irish ancestry on both sides of family
• Greg Graffin – singer-songwriter for punk-rock band Bad Religion
• Sasha Grey – actress and musician
• Kirk Hammett – guitarist for rock band Metallica; Irish father, Filipino mother
• Arthur Hanlon  – pianist and Latin music musician[20]
• Matt Heafy – lead singer and guitarist for heavy-metal band Trivium; Irish father, Japanese mother
• Jimi Hendrix – guitarist, singer.
• Swan Hennessy – composer
• Victor Herbert – composer[21]
• James Hetfield – lead singer and guitarist for rock band Metallica
• Brent Hinds – singer and guitarist for heavy-metal band Mastodon
• Julianne Hough – country-music singer and ballroom dancer
• Andy Hurley – drummer for rock band Fall Out Boy
• Danny Hutton – one of the three lead vocalists in the rock band Three Dog Night
• Jonas Brothers – pop-rock band; of Irish descent from their maternal grandfather[22]

K–Z

• Maynard James Keenan – singer/songwriter
• Bill Kelliher – guitarist for the heavy-metal band Mastodon; father was an Irish immigrant who moved to New York in the 1950s[23]
• Tori Kelly – singer/songwriter
• Alicia Keys – singer/songwriter[24]
• Dave King – singer/songwriter[25]
• Chris Kirkpatrick – former member of the boy band 'N Sync
• Larry Kirwan – punk musician[26]
• Beyoncé Knowles – pop singer
• Ben Kyle – singer-songwriter; leader of the Americana band Romantica[27]
• Demi Lovato – singer/songwriter and actress of Hispanic, Italian and Irish ancestry[28]
• Lorna Luft – actress and singer[29]
• Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) – singer/songwriter[30]
• Benji Madden – lead guitarist of the pop-punk band Good Charlotte; both parents are Irish
• Joel Madden – lead singer of the pop-punk band Good Charlotte; both parents are Irish
• Meaghan Jette Martin – actress and singer from television musical film Camp Rock (2008)
• Mike McColgan – former lead singer of the Celtic-punk band Dropkick Murphys; vocalist of the punk-rock band Street Dogs
• John McCormack – tenor[31]
• Tim McGraw  – singer; both parents have Irish ancestry
• The McGuire Sisters – female vocal group of the 1950s
• Katharine McPhee – singer; runner-up on American Idol, season 5
• Natalie Merchant – singer; mother is of Irish descent
• Patrick Monahan – singer with the pop-rock band Train[32]
• Mandy Moore – actress and singer; father is Irish
• Jim Morrison – singer-songwriter of the rock band The Doors
• Lacey Mosley – lead singer of hard-rock band Flyleaf
• Gerry Mulligan – jazz musician[33]
• Dave Mustaine – co-founder of the heavy-metal band Megadeth; first lead guitarist for the heavy-metal band Metallica
• Willie Nile – rock singer-songwriter
• Bradley Nowell – lead singer and guitarist for the ska-punk band Sublime
• Virginia O'Brien – actress and singer[34]
• Finneas O'Connell – Singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and actor with Scottish and Irish ancestry
• Aubrey O'Day – member of the female music group Danity Kane
• Chauncey Olcott – singer and composer
• Katy Perry – her great-great-grandmother was from Eyrecourt, County Galway, Ireland
• Tom Petty – rock musician
• Pink – pop-singer
• Robert Pollard – singer-songwriter; leader of the alternative-rock band Guided by Voices
• Elvis Presley – singer
• Seth Putnam – musician[35]
• Carmel Quinn – singer[36]
• Christopher "Kid" Reid – rapper; Jamaican and Irish descent
• Trent Reznor – singer-songwriter, composer and record producer; founder of the industrial-rock band Nine Inch Nails[37]
• Bianca Ryan – singer/songwriter and actress[38]
• M.Shadows – lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold
• Michael Shrieve - drummer of Santana
• Slaine – rapper
• Carly Smithson – Dublin, Ireland, native who placed sixth on the seventh installment of American Idol; lead singer of the gothic-metal band We Are the Fallen
• Britney Spears – pop singer
• Bruce Springsteen – instrumentalist and singer-songwriter
• Gwen Stefani – mother is part Irish
• Patrick Stump – lead singer of American rock band Fall Out Boy
• The Rev  – former drummer for metal band Avenged Sevenfold
• Jessica Sutta – member of pop girl group The Pussycat Dolls
• Taylor Swift – pop singer
• Corey Taylor – lead singer of heavy metal band Slipknot
• Stuart Michael Thomas – film and television composer and producer[39]
• Tinashe – singer of Zimbabwean, Danish, Norwegian and Irish descent
• Justin Timberlake – pop singer and actor
• Chris Trousdale – singer[40]
• Shania Twain – pop singer
• Danielle White – singer from the television singing-competition series American Juniors
• Joseph M. White  – tenor
• Robert White  – tenor
• Ace Young – singer from American Idol[41]

See also

• List of Americans of Irish descent
• Lists of musicians

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Mike: I learned that your dad is Irish, and your mom is Dutch Indonesian and French.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 13, 2005. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Irish-American recording artist Chris Byrne, familiar to Irish music fans as Seanchai (pronounced SHAN-a-kee), and as a founder of the Irish musical group, Black 47..."
3. "I've always said that my father is half black and half Venezuelan and my mother is Irish. But people don't understand... They can't fathom that I'm African American, Venezuelan and Irish."
4. The punk of the Irish :: Honolulu Weekly
5. "Ken Casey's Boston-Irish immigrant family experience is in many ways very similar..."
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 10, 2006. Retrieved August 9, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Born into a family of Irish descent, the Wood children, Elizabeth, (20), Deirdre, (18), Sean, (16), Patrick, (14), and Maire, (10), reside in the rural Ojai Valley in Southern California, with their parents and their little brother, Aidan"
7. "I'm Greek and Irish."
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 25, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Clooney was born into a troubled family of Irish Catholics in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1928..."
9. Cobain: Actually it was, but the Coburns screwed it up when they came over. They came from County Cork, which is a really weird coincidence, because when we toured Ireland, we played in Cork and the entire day I walked around in a daze. I'd never felt more spiritual in my life. It was the weirdest feeling and-I have a friend who was with me who could testify to this-I was almost in tears the whole day. Since that tour, which was about two years ago, I've had a sense that I was from Ireland.
10. "I was born with the Irish virus. That's easy. I came by it honestly through centuries and centuries of ancestors, I am sure..."
11. "I'm Irish and I was born on St. Patrick's day. I'm lucky sevens."
12. "I'm Irish: If I could get the cap off something, I would drink it."
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 13, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Bing’s mother was of Irish descent and his father was descended from a maritime family."
14. "Marié is of Japanese and Irish descent"
15. "heritage Irish"
16. "Irish-American trombonist Tommy Dorsey, more than two years younger (according to recently unearthed baptismal papers) than his clarinetist and alto saxophonist brother Jimmy..."
17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 16, 2003. Retrieved July 13, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "OH, FOR THE DAYS when Everlast was Irish, angry, and proud of it."
18. Archived June 28, 2006, at the Wayback Machine "The daughter of Irish-American vaudeville singers..."
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 9, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 25, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "What would "White Christmas" have sounded like if Bing Crosby (great-grandfather from Co. Cork) hadn't made it a hit? Ditto for "Over the Rainbow", sung by Judy Garland (grandmother Fitzpatrick from Dublin), whose popularity in Ireland was so great that the song It's A Great Day for the Irish was written especially for her."
20. Bonacich, Drago. "Arthur Hanlon - Biography". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
21. "Victor Herbert, an Irish-born American composer and conductor of operettas and light music..."
22. "Maternal grandfather is of Irish descent"
23. "Father was an Irish immigrant"
24. Her mother is Irish-Italian..."
25. "For Dave King, the Dublin-born singer/guitarist/songwriter of SideOneDummy recording group Flogging Molly..."
26. "Irish playwright and musician Larry Kirwan" "Larry Kirwan, a native of Wexford on the southeast coast of Ireland, writes the songs of Black 47..."
27. Bialas, Michael. "After Sleeping on It, Ben Kyle Gets His Solo Act Together". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
28. "Demi is of Hispanic, Italian and Irish descent."
29. daughter of Judy Garland and (half) sister of Liza Minnelli "and developed the powerful Irish charm and sense of style that stayed with him for the rest of his life. My family has sometimes survived on (Irish) charm alone."
30. Storrs, Kev (November 21, 2011). "RI Exclusive: Macklemore Interview with Rap Ireland". Rap Ireland. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
31. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 19, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "John McCormack ( Irish Tenor )" "...was one of the greatest singers of this century, born in Ireland in 1884 to working class parents."
32. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Being the youngest of seven kids in an Irish family..."
33. lphares.com Archived September 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
34. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 13, 2004. Retrieved October 10, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Her Irish father was the captain of detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department and later the city's deputy district attorney."
35. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 17, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "I'm half English and half Irish." "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 17, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Basically I'm.. if you really want to know my ethnic background... I'm a quarter Irish and a Quarter English. My father's side of the Family was English and they came here in 1630. And my mother's side of the family... there was a potato famine."
36. Archived August 31, 2005, at the Wayback Machine "show is an evening of songs and stories based on Quinn's early life in Dublin..."
37. .
38. The Bob Rivers Show: 11-year-old singing sensation Bianca Ryan shows us why she's got talent Archived October 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
39. . Internet Movie Database.
40. Trousdale - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Well my background is Greek and something called Black Irish. It's an ethnic Irish. It's not the blonde haired blue eyed Irish. My mom can almost look Spanish. She has really dark dark eyes. So it's basically like an Italian Irish or a Spanish Irish. It's dark. So yeah, Greek and Black Irish..."
41. "No one really sounds like me. I'm German-Irish but for some reason I have soul in me. I've always had it - ever since I was a kid. So I'm bringing my spirit and my heart because every song I sing, I'm telling a story."