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William Michael Joseph "Bill" Whelan, born on May 22, 1950 in Limerick, Ireland, is a composer and musician known for his contributions to Celtic music. He studied at Crescent College and University College Dublin, earning a Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1973. Whelan's early career involved composing the main theme for the film Bloomfield in 1970 and joining the jazz-rock band Stacc in 1978. He gained significant recognition as a keyboardist with Planxty from 1979 to 1980, contributing to albums such as The Woman I Loved So Well. Whelan produced "What's Another Year" for Johnny Logan, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. He also collaborated on U2’s album War, producing "The Refugee". In 1994, Whelan composed "Riverdance", a seven-minute piece for the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest, which became a global phenomenon and spawned a full-length stage production. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy Award in 1997. Other notable works include The Seville Suite (1992), The Spirit of Mayo (1993), and The Connemara Suite (2008). Whelan has also received awards such as the UCD Foundation Day Medal in 2011, Lifetime Achievement Awards from IMRO in 2001 and Meteor Music Awards in 2006. His autobiography, The Road To Riverdance, was published in 2022.
