Christopher Andrew ‘Christy’ Moore was born on May 7, 1945, in Newbridge, County Kildare, in the Republic of Ireland. Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist, he is one of the founding members of Planxty.
Moore was originally a bank employee who wanted to express himself using traditional music. A bank strike in the 1970s, which lasted over fourteen months, (and effectively paralysed Irish commercial life for the duration) resulted in Moore spending considerable time practising music. When the strike ended, Moore had already decided where his passion in life arose, and left the bank for good.
Moore’s earlier years of heavy drinking, sleeping disfunctional hours, continual travelling, and often eating takeaway foods resulted in a decline in health, and several operations. Moore’s battle with alcohol, and subsequent heart operations have taken their toll on the body, if not the spirit of the man. Moore, who channels much energy into his art, has been requested to not produce any more work for medical reasons, and has decided to abide by this, after earlier warnings were ignored. For this reason the volume of work produced since 1999 has declined dramatically.
