Hannigan was born on February 12th, 1981, and comes from Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, Ireland. She attended secondary school at The King's Hospital in Palmerstown, and was a student in art history at Trinity College Dublin. She left before finishing her degree to pursue singing. Early in 2001, Hannigan began singing as a lead vocalist for Damien Rice at a concert in the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin. She also appears on his debut album "O" singing on the majority of the tracks. She often accompanied Rice in his live performances, as a vocalist and occasionally on electric guitar and alongside bass, and on one occasion (Glastonbury Festival, 2003) played the drums on a track. Hannigan also contributed to Rice's album "9", including a lead vocal on the album's first single, "9 Crimes". Whilst she worked with Damien Rice some of Hannigan's solo live recordings were made available through trading networks of her performing covers on tour, or on radio shows. She has also performed live with her own band, The Daisy Okell Quartet, but no recordings are known to have been released. She also performed a solo set at the 2006 Electric Picnic festival in County Laois, Ireland. On March 26, 2007, Damien Rice summarily fired Hannigan from his band with no warning nor explanation just as they were about to go on stage in Munich, Germany. Rice announced that his professional relationship with Lisa Hannigan has ended, saying the relationship "has run its creative course" but no further explanation was ever offered for the demise of their working relationship.Hannigan went on to release her first solo album "Sea Sew" in 2008/2009.
In 2005 Lisa and Damien co-wrote Unplayed Piano which was released to support the Free Aung San Suu Kyi 60th Birthday Campaign.
A stunning vocalist, Lisa regularly performed live with Damien from early 2001 until March 2007 when Rice's offical website announced that his professional relationship with Lisa had "run its creative course".
Lisa was also a member of The Cake Sale, a collective of mostly Irish, but featuring some international artists, formed by Brian Crosby of Bell X1. On 3rd November 2006 they released a self-titled album in Ireland to raise money for Oxfam and the Irish Make Trade Fair campaign. The album was so successful that it was given an international release the following year; released 10th September 2007 in the UK and 16th October 2007 in the US.
Lisa has since gone on to pursue her own solo career, releasing her first album Sea Sew in Ireland on September 12th 2008, debuting at number 4 and earning her a Choice Music Prize nomination, two Meteor Music Award nominations and has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2009. The album's first single was Lille followed by I Don't Know.
Sea Sew got an official US release on February 3rd 2009 and a UK release on May 4th 2009. On 21 July 2009, two days after a triumphant performance in torrential rain at the Latitude Festival, it was announced that Sea Sew had been nominated for the prestigous Mercury Music Prize in the UK.
http://www.lisahannigan.ie/
http://www.myspace.com/lisahannigan
From Wikipedia:Lisa Margaret Hannigan (born 12 February 1981) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Her music has led to much success, critical praise, airplay and award nominations in her native Ireland and, more recently, in the United States. Hannigan is best known for having accompanied the highly successful singer-songwriter Damien Rice. Since leaving him, she has begun her own career, with her 2008 debut album Sea Sew spawning the hit single "Lille", a Choice Music Prize nomination, two Meteor Music Awards nominations and a Mercury Prize nomination. There has also been praise from fellow musicians and, in recent times, Jools Holland of the United Kingdom and US television hosts Jay Leno and Stephen Colbert.
She is known for aiding charities such as Oxfam and her "Some Surprise" duet with Gary Lightbody featured on the US television series Grey's Anatomy. As part of an advertising campaign for fair trade the singer permitted herself be covered in melted chocolate. Hannigan has performed and been associated with musicians such as Cathy Davey, Mic Christopher, Mick Flannery, David Kitt and members of Snow Patrol, The Frames and Bell X1 and has performed at the Glastonbury Festival both as a solo artist and alongside Damien Rice.