Neil McGrath is a 28 year old musician from Ireland. He has been writing songs since the age of 13 and has been performing gigs around Ireland with various bands and as a solo artist since he was 15.<...

Neil McGrath is a 28 year old musician from Ireland. He has been writing songs since the age of 13 and has been performing gigs around Ireland with various bands and as a solo artist since he was 15.

His first radio appearance was at 16 playing his own song "If I went Away" on the Roddy Cleere show on WLR FM. As part of an IRMA sponsored project in 2002, he recorded "Mo Chairde Go Leir" which was aired on Roddy Cleere's show and received a very positive review from guest critic Jackie Hayden of Hot Press.

In 2004 he recorded the "First Thoughts..." demo with his band TooSkin BlooSkin which received a small mention in Hot Press magazine with the track "Pull Me Up" being described by Edel Dooley as "a work of FM Rock genius". In the same year he also made a solo appearance on the Irish TV station TG4 where he performed an acoustic version of "Father & Son" on the Pop4 programme.

In 2006 he began recording his solo debut album "First Thoughts On Forever" with long time collaborator and fellow TooSkin BlooSkin member Eamon O'Malley. 10-12 demo songs were recorded in this time and a 4-song sample CD of the recordings drew interest from some record companies such as John Prine's "Oh Boy" label but no deal was signed and unfortunately a lack of funding meant that the album was postponed indefinitely.

In 2007 he decided to take a break from gigging and recording to buy and renovate a house in his hometown of Tramore with his longtime partner Orla and their son Dylan. During this time he also developed a keen interest in computer based music and has been studying and learning to use programs such as ProTools, CuBase and Acid Pro. A lifelong fan of radio, he also completed a course in Radio Broadcasting in 2008.

Following a two year hiatus from gigging and recording Neil is planning a full return to music in 2009 and hopes to complete the "First Thoughts On Forever" album and release it independently.