Mairead Furlong is a country-pop singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Ireland. Having grown up in a family of talented musicians, she was immersed in music from a very early age. As soon as she could speak some of her first words were those of song lyrics which her mother would sing her to sleep with every night. When Mairead was just seven years old she picked up her first instrument, a fiddle. Over the years she has won many titles on the fiddle, performing solo at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, for the Irish President at Áras an Uachtaráin and by personal invitation
performing for the Irish Ambassador in Brussels. She has toured both as a singer and violinist worldwide.
Mairead quickly realised that she had a special ability to articulate words and tell stories through creative writing and poetry. After years of piano lessons and teaching herself how to play the Guitar, her love for writing and music naturally came together and that is where her songwriting began. Mairead made the decision to move to London to focus on pursing her music career and developing her skills and talent as a songwriter.
Following a submitted entry into a national music competition, she won and was awarded the Shure Songwriting Award in 2012 with Sony BMI. Previous winners of this prestigious award include Elena Tonra and Igor Haefeli - aka Daughter who are now signed to 4AD records, the home of artists such as Bon Iver, Iron & Wine and The National. Mairead received a full scholarship to study on the BA Songwriting Degree course at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London in which Mairead graduated from with an award for ‘Best Overall’ and a showcase performance at The Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's Southbank.
In June 2015, Mairead entered the Future Music Songwriting Competition (OpenMicUK) performing at the world renouned music venue Dingwalls in Camden. She was placed a winner out of 10,000 entrants in the UK.
The following year Mairead performed as part of a band 'Megan & The Common Threads' who played a sold out show for London's Timeout Magazine, performed back to back performances at the C2C Festival held in London's 02 Arena and recorded their EP at Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios with producer Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits).
In 2018 Mairead had the honour of being handpicked as a finalist in the prestigious Coffee Music Project Songwriting Competition at 229 The Venue in London.
Since then Mairead has moved back to her home country of Ireland where she resides with her husband and two children.
With the surprise of a global pandemic and an unexpected illness in her rearview mirror, she is now putting the final touches on her long awaited debut album so make sure you sign up to the mailing list on her website to be the first to know when it's released!