Dónal Lunny obituary: Innovative musician who leaves indelible mark on Irish folk and traditional music

Born: March 10th, 1947

Died: October 23d, 2026

Traditional music owes much of its propulsive force, its appetite for innovation and its wide-lens perspective to a singular musician who has played a key role in propelling it to heights previously unimagined. Dónal Lunny has been at the heart of some of the most seminal musical collaborations over the past six decades: playing, producing, composing and arranging tunes and songs with such boundless imagination and creativity that they resonated with audiences who might never have cocked an ear to traditional music had he not inspired such explosive creativity in the heart of tunes both familiar and newly composed.

His central role as a founder member of Planxty, The Bothy Band and Moving Hearts would be calling card enough for a lesser musician, but Lunny never tired of seeking out new collaborations, novel sounds and fresh perspectives on the music that defined him as a person.

Speaking to The Irish Times in 2009, Lunny underscored his belief in the importance of change and development in traditional music.

“I think the movement and evolution of Irish music is a very good thing, and should be fostered and encouraged, because that’s the thing that keeps it alive. It’s the paradox of change: some people want to keep things the way they were, and others want to change them, and there’s a tension there – and that’s how it should be.”

Born on March 10th, 1947, in Tullamore, he was one of nine children: four boys and five girls. His father Frank was from Enniskillen and his mother, Mary (née Rogers) was from Ranafast in Donegal. The family moved to Newbridge when Dónal was five years old. He attended Newbridge College and later, the Patrician Brothers School.

His early musical explorations were modest. Early piano lessons left him cold and almost a decade elapsed before he found his way to the guitar and drums.

As a young teenager Lunny forged a close relationship with Christy Moore, and for many years the pair were more like brothers than friends. During their teens, along with Dónal’s older brother, Frank, they formed their first band, The Rakes of Kildare.

[ Dónal Lunny’s legacy will be his openness to new ways of interpreting old musicOpens in new window ]

In 1965 he went to the National College of Art and Design and became a skilled gold and silversmith, but music was at the heart of who he was and so he devoted his time to becoming a full-time musician.

It was during this period that he first encountered the bouzouki, thanks to Andy Irvine. This Greek instrument offered Lunny an uncharted route into the percussive forces of the Irish tradition, which he mined with an exhilarating mix of authority and an unfettered spirit of adventure.

It is thanks to Lunny that the bouzouki is now a central feature in Irish traditional music. He was also highly influential in his mandolin playing, taking both instruments to the heart of the tradition, while also being a masterful guitarist and drummer. In the early 2000s he invented an acoustic drum kit to meet what he saw as the bass and percussive requirements of traditional music.

During the mid-late 1960s he formed The Parnell Folk with Mick Moloney, Seán Corcoran, Johnny Morrissey and Dan Maher. That was followed by Emmet Folk and ultimately, Emmet Spiceland, a folk sensation formed by Dónal and the late Moloney, which had a number one hit with Mary from Dungloe in 1966 when Dónal was just 19 years old and still in college.

Their early success saw them experiencing scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania, a source of acute embarrassment to Lunny at the time.

In 1970, Dónal partnered with Irvine to found The Mug’s Gig, a regular club night downstairs in Slattery’s pub on Capel Street. It was here it became abundantly clear that the pair were not just interpreting Irish folk and traditional music, but were making it their own, with their shared love of complex, hip-swivelling rhythms and innovative melodic arrangements.

For decades, Dónal Lunny could be seen cycling all over Dublin, a low-key figure with a ready smile and a diary bursting with commitments

In 1971 Dónal produced Moore’s debut solo album, Prosperous, which also featured Irvine, the trio whetting their appetites for what was to follow with the formation of Planxty in 1972. This was the band where the whole was unquestionably greater than the sum of the parts, and one that revolutionised traditional music with what Moore called the “spontaneous combustibility” of Dónal Lunny, a musician who was, he said, “without doubt the funniest man I know”.

Dónal cofounded Mulligan Records with Seamus O’Neill in 1971, which became one of the most important independent Irish record labels. As well as releasing traditional and contemporary folk music, the label released several new wave singles.

Dónal Lunny met his first wife, Judy, who was American, when he was 20, and together they had a son, Oisín. He had a daughter, Cora Venus Lunny, with German photographer Julia Buthe. Cora is now a successful musician in her own right.

He later married Japanese musician Hideko Itami and they have a daughter, Sora Chan. They separated and she now lives in Japan. He had a son, Shane, with Sinéad O’Connor; Shane tragically died in 2022.

He was also romantically involved with Sharon Shannon and collaborated extensively with her from the time of the recording of her landmark solo debut in 1991.

For decades, Dónal Lunny could be seen cycling all over Dublin, a low-key figure with a ready smile and a diary bursting with commitments. His energy didn’t wane, nor did his enthusiasm for collaborating with all manner of musicians from Frank Harte (with whom he released the landmark Napoleonic ballads albums) and Mark Knopfler to Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Baaba Maal and Van Morrison.

[ Tributes paid to musician Dónal Lunny after his death aged 79Opens in new window ]

Throughout his long and picaresque career, Dónal Lunny thrived on collaboration. In 1974 he produced the debut album for Celtic Folkweave, a duo consisting of Mick Hanly and Micheál Ó Domhnaill. Many of his collaborations evolved into some of the most seminal band formations from Planxty to The Bothy Band and later, Coolfin, Mozaik, LAPD and Usher’s Island.

More recently, he forged new paths in the company of fiddle player Zoë Conway and box player Máirtin O’Connor. He made generous contributions to many TV documentaries, from Bringing It All Back Home to A River of Sound, Sult and Lorg Lunny.

His many compositions for theatre, film and TV led to his induction into Aosdána in 2007. In 2008 Dónal received an honorary doctorate in music from Trinity College. In 2009 he was appointed artist in residence at the University of Limerick, where he frequently taught. The late Micheál Ó Suilleabháin described Dónal Lunny as “a very gentlemanly, quiet person”, while the late Liam O’Flynn, his co-conspirator in Planxty, loved how Dónal “never held a tune back”.

The Bothy Band reunited magisterially in 2024, on foot of a TG4 documentary on the band. Their planned live performance was cut short by Dónal’s unexpected health issues, but a magical concert in The Complex in Smithfield underscored yet again the central role that Lunny played in arranging and anchoring the band’s extraordinary sound, one that is as groundbreaking today as it was when they were in their heyday in the mid 1970s.

His self-effacing manner belied a powerful musical intellect that was as much at home in a quiet session in The Rosses of Donegal as it was in the heady environs of the National Concert Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. He was a leviathan who has left an indelible mark across and beyond Irish folk and traditional music.

Dónal Lunny is survived by his children, Oisín, Cora Venus and Sora Chan, and by his former wives Judy and Hideko.