The Duggans
Irish musical duo
The Duggans (Irish: Na Dúgáiní) were an Irish musical duo from County Donegal, Ireland. They were founder members of the Irish folk group Clannad.
Early life
Twin brothers Noel Duggan and Pádraig (Patrick) Duggan (Irish: Ó Dúgáin) were born on 23 January 1949 in Gweedore, County Donegal, to Maire and Aodh Ó Dúgáin. They were the youngest in a family of seven. The brothers learned to speak Gaelic as their first language and acted on stage with a local theatre group from an early age. They took piano lessons, then learned to play guitar in their early teens. Both trained on a radio officers' course as preparation for going to sea, but chose music instead.
They played in the Slieve Foy Band, an Irish showband whose members included their elder sister Baba and her husband Leo Brennan, who bought a pub, Ionad Jack in the village of Meenaleck, which they helped to renovate and reopen as Tabhairne Leo (Leo's Tavern). The pub became the home of informal music sessions with a group of family members, hosting live music every night, and the Duggan brothers became mainstays of the sessions. Their early repertoire consisted of American country numbers and arrangements of contemporary songs by artists such as Joni Mitchell and The Beatles, until their mother suggested that they should sing in Gaelic.
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