Kevin Conneff is more familiarly known as the voice and rhythmic heartbeat of the legendary Irish folk group, The Chieftains, through his talents as vocalist and bodhr�n player. He joined the group in 1976, replacing Peadar Mercier who had been the second bodhr�n player for the group. The move was unexpected ? he'd been asked to contribute to "Bonaparte's Retreat" and didn't know that Peadar Mercier was retiring until Paddy Moloney, over a pint or two of Guinness, asked Kevin to consider making the contribution permanent. Since then, Kevin has become an integral part of the sound of the Chieftains. Kevin Conneff was born in Donore, a village near Drogheda, in County Louth, Ireland and raised in the Liberties, in the heart of Dublin. Music was an important part of his home life but, as he later related, "I didn't hear traditional music from the womb," as did other members of the Chieftains. It wasn't until he began work as a photographic assistant for a printing machine company, at age 18, that he was introduced to Irish traditional music. A group of his work mates would hire a car every week to drive to one of the many fleadhs within reasonable driving distance. [More at Wikipedia]

January 8th, 1945 in Dublin (Age 79)