FOR JOANIE'S TOUR DATES, VISIT WWW.CHERISHTHELADIES.COM
JOANIE MADDEN is the Grammy Award winning whistle and flute player who has been the leader of the internationally acclaimed touring ensemble Cherish the Ladies since its inception. The second oldest of seven children born in New York to Irish parents, her mother Helen is a dancer of traditional sets hails from Miltown Malbay, County Clare and her father Joe, an All-Ireland Champion on the accordion, comes from Portumna in East Galway.
Joanie received her musical training early in life listening to her father and his friends play music at family gatherings and social events. She began taking lessons from Jack Coen, and within a few short years she had won both the All-Ireland Championship on the concert flute and whistle. During that time, Joanie also became the first American to win the coveted Senior All-Ireland tin whistle championship.
Throughout her stellar and luminous career, she has amassed a plethora of awards and citations to her credit including; the youngest member inducted into the Irish-American Musicians Hall of Fame, voted twice as one of the Top 100 Irish Americans in the United States by Irish America Magazine, recipient of the Wild Geese Award (other past recipients include Michael Flatley, the Chieftains Paddy Moloney and noted playwright Brian Friel). She was also named Top Traditional Musician of the Year by the Irish Echo Newspaper, and Joanie recently became the youngest person - and only the second female in history to be inducted into the Comhaltas Traditional Musicians hall of fame, all for her contributions to promoting and preserving Irish culture in America.
She is in constant demand as a studio musician and has performed on over a hundred albums running the gamut from Pete Seeger to Sinead O'Connor. Joanie has played on three Grammy award-winning albums and her involvement on the Hearts of Space labels’ “Celtic Twilight†CD led to a platinum album with over 1,000,000 sales. In the past years she has toured with the Eagles’ Don Henley and was also a featured soloist on the final Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
In addition to her musical virtuosity, she is a gifted composer. Many of her compositions are basic session tunes known throughout the world in traditional music circles and have been recorded by some of Irelands leading musicians.
She is equally loved for her outgoing personality and her stage persona and has been heralded by critcs around the globe for her role as front woman for Cherish the Ladies. Noted folklorist, musician and scholar Dr. Mick Moloney calls Joanie a "character - one of the greatest you could meet in a long days travel" and bestowed on her the title "first lady of Irish Music".
She is the top selling whistle player in history having sold over 500,000 solo albums. She has recorded three highly successful solo albums; "A Whistle on the Wind", "Song of the Irish Whistle" and "Song of the Irish Whistle 2".
