Moya Brennan, Whose Gaelic Pop Band Won Worldwide Fame, Dies at 73 [View all]

Source: NYT

Clannad consisted of her uncles, siblings and, briefly, her sister Enya. In a memoir, Ms. Brennan described a stormy youth followed by a Christian reawakening.

By Alex Traub
April 19, 2026

Moya Brennan, the eldest of nine children from a Gaelic-speaking rural Irish family who went on to lead a family band that brought Gaelic to the global pop charts, died on April 13 at her home in Donegal, the county where she grew up. She was 73.

Her band, Clannad, announced the death on social media. In recent years, Ms. Brennan had discussed having pulmonary fibrosis.

The band was where Ms. Brennan’s sister Enya, probably Ireland’s most famous solo act, got her start. It also featured a rotating cast of Ms. Brennan’s other siblings and uncles. Her uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan provided rhythm, playing mainly guitars, and her brothers Pol and Ciaran Brennan composed, in addition to playing guitar, mandolin, flute, bass and piano.

Moya played the harp. But it was her voice — breathy, with a delicate vibrato yet also a deep resonance — that provided Clannad with its signature sound.


Ms. Brennan performing with her uncles Padraig Duggan, left, and Noel Duggan. Credit...Val Wilmer/Redferns/Getty Images

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