Northern Irish composer and producer Gerry Diver studied violin at Cork University and also learned other instruments. He made his name with the rock band Tie the Boy in the late 1980s, then went on to collaborate with a host of artists including Jah Wobble, David Tibet, Spiritualized, The Popes, Van Morrison, Mel C, Mundy, Tom Robinson and The Good, the Bad & the Queen. Married to English singer Lisa Knapp, he produces all her albums and records Hinterland (2025) as a duo. Diver has also become a sought-after producer, working with Billy Bragg, Graham Coxon, James Yorkston, Martyn Joseph, Martin Carthy, Alasdair Roberts, Paul Heaton, Olly Knights, Nitin Sawhney, Glen Matlock, TV Smith and Ian McKellen, among others. In 2002 he released his first solo album, Diversions, followed ten years later by The Speech Project, in which traditional instruments and electroacoustic sounds blend with the narration of texts spoken by Shane McGowan, Christy Moore, Damien Dempsey and Martin Hayes. In 2018, together with David Holmes, he composed the music for the BBC TV series Death and Nightingales.
