Members

As of 2023:

• Megan Walsh (vocals)
• Muirgen O’Mahony (vocals)
• Hannah Traynor (vocals)
• Tara McNeill (violin)

Founding members

• Lisa Kelly (vocals)
• Orla Fallon (vocals)
• Méav Ní Mhaolchatha (vocals)
• Chloë Agnew (vocals)
• Mairéad Nesbitt (violin)

Past Members in more or less chronological order

Chloë Agnew

• Joined in 2004 at the age of just 15.
• Left 2013, replaced by Mairéad Carlin.
• A planned Comeback in 2020 to replace Éabha McMahon was cancelled due to the Covid pandemia. Chloë still performed for some recordings between 2020 and 2022. She finally left again in 2022.

Lisa Kelly

• founding member (2004)
• temporarily took a break in 2008 because she was expecting a child. Her place was temporarily filled by Alex Sharpe who about a year later joined again to permanently replace Órla Fallon.
• finally left in 2012, because she was expecting another child. She was replaced by Susan McFadden and the replacement was announced as final in 2013 when Susan became a permanent member of the group.

Órla Fallon

• founding member (2004) as harpist and singer.
• left in 2009 for personal reason and was replaced by Alex Sharpe

Méav Ní Mhaolchatha

• founding member (2004) as singer
• left in 2007 for personal reasons and to pursue her solo career.
• replaced by Lynn Hilary

Lynn Hilary

• joined the group in 2007 to replace Méav Ní Mhaolchatha
• left 2010 and Lisa Lambe took her place.

Alex Sharpe

• temporarily took Lisa Kelly’s place in 2008
• joined as permanent member in 2009 to replace Órla Fallon.
• she initially left in 2010 after the Songs from the Heart tour but later rejoined multiple times. The first time she rejoined in 2015 for another tour and in 2018 she temporarily replaced Susan McFadden who cited personal reasons for her departure.

Lisa Lambe

• joined in 2010 to replace Lynn Hilary
• left 2014 and Éabha McMahon took her place in 2015

Susan McFadden

• Joined 2012 as replacement for Lisa Kelly.
• Left 2018
• short comeback in 2019 to replace Mairéad Carlin who was out due to a medical emergency.
• She was replaced by Megan Walsh who is currently still member.

Éabha McMahon

• Joined 2015 to replace Lisa Lambe.
• Left 2020 to pursue a solo career. It was planned to replace her temporarily with Chloë Agnew.
• She currently performs under the name Ava as a solo artist.

  Name facts

• Her first name (Éabha) is pronounced like AY—va. Phonetically it sounds similar to the German pronunciation of Eva, which is the German form of Eve, spoken with a softer e at the beginning. It basically means life in the Irish language, but can also be translated to source of life.

  In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RKz7o_p_24 she explains how to pronounce her name (around the 00:10 time mark). So yes, it’s pretty similar to the German pronunciation of Eva with a longer and softer vocal in the beginning.

• Éabha is the Irish form of the common name Eve, adopted to Irish language specialties. The Irish language does not know the letter v and uses the combination bh instead. So this is basically all the „magic“ behind the strange looking spelling. Quite simple to understand and it applies to many names with the bh form of spelling a phonetic v.

• Eve is originally an Hebrew name. In other languages, the forms Ava, Eve, Eva, Eava and Awa are quite common. In fact, Éabha McMahon uses the stage name Ava for the solo project she started after leaving Celtic Woman.

Mairéad Carlin

• Joined in 2013 to replace Chloë Agnew (who later came back for a short while)
• Left 2021 for other projects. ### Name facts

• Mairéad is the Irish version of the common anglo-cultural name Margaret. In Scottish Gaelic it is spelled Mairead with Maighread being another common form. The pet form of this name is known as Maisie.

• it is pronounced MOR—ayd, similar, but not exactly identical to the English Word parade with an M in front.

• The name is derived from the french name Marguerite which is in turn based on the Latin name Margarita. The meaning of this name is pearl.

Videos in various lineups

Tir na nog

YouTube link From 2016, the lineup is: Mairead Carlin (black haired, blue dress) Éabha McMahon (brunette, blue dress), she replaced Lisa Lambe in 2015 Susan McFadden (blonde, blue dress) Mairead Nesbitt (violin) Oonagh - green dress, she is a German singer and acts as a special guest in this Song.

Téir Abhaile Riú

2012 version

• Lisa Lambe
• Lisa Kelly
• Chloë Agnew
• Mairéad Nesbitt

Téir Abhaile Riú

This must be from 2018 or so, before Susan left the group. YouTube link

• Mairéad Carlin (dark hair, dark blue dress)
• Éabha McMahon (brunette bright blue dress)
• Susan McFadden (red dress)

Dulaman versions from three eras

1. Mairéad Carlin in „Homecoming“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifDGf1VS3SQ

2. The original by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha („A new Journey, 2006“) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH7sg3UjVIQ

3. Lisa Lambe (Emerald Tour, ca. 2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_zoV8VY2u8

   Over the years, I’ve heard many versions of Dulaman and for me, there is no best. Méav’s version was the minimalistic approach, living from her angelic voice alone. Lisa Lambe is not only a singer, but also an actress and it shows. Her overall performance and stage presence are superb and Lisa and her spoons are a legend. Mairéad is somewhat in between but she made the song her own. It’s almost impossible to rate the different versions, so just sit back and enjoy. That’s just great music.

Personally, the era around 2010 with Lisa Kelly (and later Susan McFadden), Chloë Agnew and Lisa Lambe is still my favorite lineup. These ladies were just perfect, they had everything, the voice, the beauty, the grace, the elegance and a lot of energy. It always seemed they had endless fun on stage and every performance was full of spirit and energy.

Mairéad Carlin, who joined in 2013, replacing Chloë Agnew and Éabha McMahon who replaced Lisa Lambe in 2015 concluded that era and changed CW somewhat. Particularly Éabha added a lot new facets to the group because of her very distinct and unusually dark, almost ethereal contralto voice.

• Méav vor the purity of her voice
• Chloë, because she always looked like she has endless fun on stage.
• Lisa Lambe for her overall performance, acting and superb stage presence.
• Éabha for her unique and dark voice
• Mairéad Carlin, because she is