THERE is huge sadness across the county following the sudden death of Clannad founder Noel Duggan.
Mr Duggan (73) died on Saturday. It is reported he was with friends in West Donegal when he took ill and died suddenly.
His passing was made public on the band’s twitter account yesterday.
The tweet stated: “We are heartbroken to share the news that Noel Duggan, our beloved uncle, trusted friend, and founding member of Clannad died suddenly in Donegal yesterday evening. He was 73-years-old.”
In a follow-up tweet, the statement went on: “Noel will be forever remembered for his outstanding guitar solos, his love of music and his dedication to the band.”
The news was met by a huge deluge of online sadness. One Twitter user wrote: “Very sorry to hear, and thank you for the music over the last fifty plus years,” while another person wrote: “Such sad news. An icon of Irish music and Donegal. Deepest sympathies.” Another person wrote: “So sorry to hear about Noel. I am going to listen to some Clannad today in his honour.”
Clannad were formed in 1970 in Gaoth Dobhair by siblings Ciarán, Pól and Moya Brennan and their twin uncles, Noel and Pádraig Duggan.
They enjoyed various genres of music down through the decades including traditional Irish, folk, rock, Celtic and new-age music.
The band’s breakthrough came in the early 80s when their theme song for the Yorkshire TV mini-series, ‘Harry’s Game’ became a huge success in several countries.
In August, the award-winning band announced they had been forced to cancel their US and Canadian tours the following month due to rising costs. The group had been due to bring their farewell tour entitled, ‘In a Lifetime’ to the States.
In a statement, they had said: “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the cancellation of our tour, ‘In a Lifetime USA/Canada Tour in September and October 2022. Significant increases in touring overheads since our original schedule hs meant that we cannot deliver these live shows to the standard that we and our fans expect.”
The band said the decision to cancel was “incredibly difficult”.
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision to arrive at and we sincerely apologise to everyone for having to do it at this late stage.”
Brother
Mr Duggan was both a singer and songwriter with the band.
The band won many prestigious awards, including a Grammy, a BAFTA, an Ivor Novello Award and Billboard Music Award. Such is their worldwide appeal, they have recorded in six different languages and achieved eight UK top 10 albums.
The band had been due to play Dublin’s 3 Arena on December 9.
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