Biography
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Born
17 May 1969 (age 54)
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Born In
Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
There are two artists with the name Alan Doyle:
1. Alan Doyle CM ONL (born May 17, 1969) is a Canadian musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea.
Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, in a Roman Catholic family. He attended Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. It is also there that he met Séan McCann, Bob Hallett and Darrell Power with whom he formed Great Big Sea. He primarily plays electric and acoustic guitars, and the bouzouki for live performances, but he has been known to play mandolin and banjo.
Before Great Big Sea, Doyle played in a duo with John Brenton called Staggering Home. As a teen he played in his uncle's band, the New Sandells.
In 2012, Doyle released his first solo album, Boy on Bridge. The title is a nod to Doyle's credit as the "boy on bridge" in the movie A Whale for the Killing, when he was a young boy. The first single from the album was "I've Seen a Little" and the album features collaborations with Canadian musicians Hawksley Workman, Jim Cuddy, Ron Hynes, and actor-musician Russell Crowe, among others. The video for the second single, "Testify", was nominated for a 2012 Juno. The creation of the album was captured by a film crew, resulting in a documentary also named Boy on Bridge directed by Joel Stewart and John Vatcher.
Doyle's second solo album, entitled So Let's Go, was released January 20, 2015.
Doyle's third solo album A Week at the Warehouse, was released on October 13, 2017. His second book titled A Newfoundlander in Canada: Always Going Somewhere, Always Coming Home, was released on October 17, 2017.
On June 14, 2022 he will begin starring in a musical comedy called "Tell Tale Harbour" at the 2022 Charlottetown Festival. The story is based on the screenplay "La grande séduction" by Ken Scott that was made into the 2003 award winning film "Seducing Doctor Lewis". Doyle was co-writer of the production as well as co-writer of music and lyrics with Bob Foster. Also credited as one of the authors for a book of the musical with award-winning writer Edward Riche.
2. Alan Doyle is an Irish singer-songwriter. He recently released the EP “his words left fatal wounds – demos”, a work in progress of his second LP and his first important release in Ireland. Alan was previously based in Spain for six years where he formed part of Madrid's emerging independent music scene and where he launched his debut LP “Places”. All of the music which Alan has released to date has been completely written, performed and produced by Alan himself.
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