When: 7.30pm on Sunday 29 April 2012
Where: The Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann’s Square, Manchester M2 7DH

We’re proud to be bringing Irish singer-songwriter legend Paul Brady to the Royal Exchange, with Eleanor McEvoy joining as special guest.

Paul Brady, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is one of Ireland’s most highly regarded and successful artists. He crosses musical boundaries again and again, incorporating folk, rock, blues traditional Irish and classic pop styles into his songwriting. His live performances, whether solo or full band, incorporate songs from his extensive catalog of 40 years. Often classified as a musicians’ musician, Paul Brady’s songs have been covered by a huge array of major artists.

He began to write songs in the early 80s and has since forged a reputation as one of Ireland’s finest singer-songwriters, releasing many popular and critically acclaimed records. Songs such as The Island, Crazy Dreams, Nothing But The Same Old Story, Nobody Knows, Follow On, The Long Goodbye, The Homes of Donegal and Paradise Is Here have, over the years, given joy and emotional sustenance to generations of Irish at home and abroad.

Soon after the release of Hard Station, his first album of his own compositions in 1981, his songwriting began to come to the attention of artists worldwide and his first ‘cover’ came the following year when Carlos Santana recorded Night Hunting Time. Since then his songs have been sung by many international artists including Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Cher, Carole King, Art Garfunkel, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Trisha Yearwood and Phil Collins and, closer to home, Ronan Keating, Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Maura O’Connell, Liam Clancy and Mary Black.

An evening with Paul Brady on stage is a captivating experience, and this great talent can easily be compared to his contemporaries such as Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Richard Thompson and Mark Knopfler.

Exposed to music at a very early age, Dublin-born Eleanor McEvoy grew up in a strict Catholic household in the grey north-side suburb of Cabra. After a musical upbringing playing the piano, violin and performing on stage with her older siblings, Eleanor graduated in music from Trinity in Dublin and set out to pay her way through life as a jobbing musician. Already writing her own songs, she was waiting for the opportunity to branch out on her own. The legendary Tom Zutaut of Geffen Records, on a scouting mission to Dublin, heard Eleanor in a pub, bought her demo cassette and on the spot decided he wanted to sign her to Geffen. After three years she switched to Columbia Records and currently records on Moscodisc. McEvoy composed the song Only A Woman’s Heart, title track of A Woman’s Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.

The Royal Exchange Theatre has existed in one form or another since 1792, including at its current site in St Ann’s Square. The building was seriously damaged during World War II when it took a direct hit from a bomb during a German air raid at Christmas, 1940. The interior was subsequently rebuilt but trading ceased in 1968, and the building was threatened with demolition. It remained empty until 1973 when it was used to temporarily house a theatre company. The Royal Exchange Theatre was founded in 1976, and formally opened by Sir Laurence Olivier.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Royal Exchange Theatre, which seats upwards of 700 people in the round across three tiers, welcomed the likes of John Martyn, Fairport Convention, Loudon Wainwright III, Cowboy Junkies, the Durutti Column, Penguin Cafe and Christy Moore among others. The building was later damaged on 15 June 1996 when the IRA bomb exploded less than 50 yards away in nearby Corporation Street. Repairs took over two years and cost £32m, but the theatre was named ‘Theatre of the Year’ in 1999 and continues to thrive.

This is a co-promotion with Phil Jones for Edge Street Live.

Tickets are available directly from the Royal Exchange box office (no booking fee for cash payment), Royalexchange.co.uk, Ticketline.co.uk, Seetickets.com and on 0161 833 9833.