Michael English

b. 23 April 1979, Castledermot, County Kildare, Eire. English’s family was musical, his father playing button accordion with a traditional Irish band, his mother was an Irish dancer, and his two sisters became players of the fiddle and the piano. His father’s band rehearsed in the family home and the boy eventually started playing piano with them. At the age of nine, he began studying formally at the Hennessy School of Music in Carlow. Although studying classical music, he took a liking to popular music and was soon playing semi-professionally at local venues. He wrote to a television company, asking if he could appear on Gay Byrne’s popular Late Late Show television programme, was accepted, and so made his national debut at the age of 11. He moved on to study at Dublin’s Royal Irish Academy of Music and concurrently began gaining a reputation as a performer of Irish country music. By chance, he met Henry McMahon of the Mainliners who, impressed by English’s enthusiasm, offered him one of his own compositions, ‘The Nearest To Perfect’. English recorded the song privately, promoted it himself, and saw it become a hit in 1999. This led directly to a contract with Ritz Records, and his debut, The Nearest To Perfect. Among awards won by English is that of 2004 and 2005 Best International Entertainer at the Irish National Entertainers Awards ceremony. (NB: Not to be confused with the American CCM singer of the same name.)