Biography
Brendan Wade, No 1 selling Irish artist. Double Double plantinum selling, Singer, Songwriter,Lyric Writer. Best Irish Band 1989 National music industry awards.
(Uilleann pipes, Scottish Small Pipes, wooden flute, Whistles, guitar, Bodhran)
After leaving school Brendan was asked to join a rock band which went on to be known as «Cry Before Dawn». This was a life changing event and since 1985 he has been a professional musician. The band had great success in Ireland and the UK, having signed a world wide recording contract with CBS (Sony). They were awarded «Best new act» in 1988 and «Best Irish band» in national music awards (IRMA) in 1990. Both of their albums achived double platinum status in Ireland.
After the band parted, Brendan together with top singer songwriter Paul Bell (Zerra 1), formed a duo called «The Wild Swans». They achieved number 1 in Ireland with their songs about Wexford Hurling, reaching gold status. It was indeed one of the proudest moments of their careers. These songs («Dancing at the crossroads»words and music Bell/Wade and «The purple and gold»music -Bell, words Bell/Wade) are now part of folklore in Wexford. They recorded an album with Take That producer Chris Porter recording in the famous Abbey Road studios in London. They toured with Mike and the mechanics and Elton John.
Brendan recorded with top Italian singer/ songwriter Angelo Branduardi on his album «Il ditto e la luna» also with Italian singer Pati Pravo. He also recorded a session for Robbie Williams.
Brendan now lives in Switzerland and performs with many different groups Inish a high energy traditional folk group featuring Mike and Tamy Gorsatt and Simon Brem, Bow Triplets (Irish, Swedish, Canadian folk music) with Heidi and Stef Sigfalk, Elandir and more recently Rumi S. Hatt. Please see (Bands) for more info.
In 2009 Brendan performed with top Swiss singer/ songwriter «IVO» at the world famous AVO session in Basel. The band received a standing ovation after their performance. This show will be on Swiss TV in 2010 as well as Germany and Austria.
In 2009 he was awarded a teaching diploma T. T. C. T. in traditional music teaching by Comhaltas Celotori Eireann. He qualified to teach beginner to advanced tin whistle pupils.
Brendan is currently writing songs for various projects in Switzerland and ireland
He plays solo concerts and events (f. e. Whiskey tastings), celtic weddings, church ceremonies, Irish events and Scottish (Burns nights) incorporating the Irish pipes, Scottish Small pipes and of course that great singing voice.