Junior Brother
Irish folk singer
Ronan Kealy (born 1993), known as Junior Brother, is an Irish alternative folk singer-songwriter from County Kerry.
Early life
Kealy grew up in County Kerry. He attended St Brendan's College, Killarney and studied English in University College Cork and Ballyfermot College of Further Education.
Career
Junior Brother moved to Dublin in 2014 to begin his career. His stage name is taken from a character in the Elizabethan play The Revenger's Tragedy. He was named as one of RTÉ's Rising Irish Stars of 2018, and as one of The Irish Times' "Irish music contenders ready to break through in 2019".
His first album, Pull The Right Rope, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize. In a 4-star review for The Irish Times, music journalist Tony Clayton-Lea wrote: "...the tales told here are full of wide-eyed wonders and keen observations. Between the clatter of one and clarity of the other, Junior Brother’s songs are the real deal." Music website The Last Mixed Tape wrote of the album: "An album of pure expression, Pull The Right Rope is a masterclass in the sheer joy of creation."
In March 2019 he appeared on The Tommy Tiernan Show, and in April 2020 on Other Voices (Irish TV series).
His third album The End was nominated for the 2025 Choice Music Prize.
The public source identifies “Junior Brother” as irish folk singer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Junior, Brother and Irish.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q88325252. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1993, 2014, 2018 and 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “Junior Brother” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.