Christopher Andrew 'Christy' Moore (born on May 7, 1945, in Newbridge, County Kildare, in the Republic of Ireland) is a very popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty. His first album, Paddy on the Road (a minor release of 500) was recorded with Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan) in 1969.
Moore was originally a bank employee who wanted to express himself using traditional music. A bank strike in the 1970s, which lasted over fourteen months, (and effectively paralysed Irish commercial life for the duration) resulted in Moore spending considerable time practising music. When the strike ended, Moore had already decided where his passion in life arose, and left the bank for good.
1970 brought his first major release, Prosperous (named for the village of Prosperous, County Kildare, where the album was recorded), which brought together the four musicians who shortly thereafter formed Planxty: Liam Óg O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, and Dónal Lunny. For a time they called themselves "CLAD", an acronym of their names, but soon decided on Planxty.
After leaving Planxty in 1975, Moore continued on his solo career, reforming his old band on occasion (which he has been doing ever since). He also formed the band Moving Hearts with Lunny and five other musicians in 1980. In 2000 he published his autobiography, One Voice.
In recent times, Moore's earlier years of heavy drinking, sleeping disfunctional hours, continu...