Ciaran Gribbin is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer who, in addition to working with world-class artists such as Madonna, U2, Paul McCartney, Snow Patrol and Al Pacino, has toured the world as the singer of INXS.
As a sought-after and experienced keynote speaker, Ciaran's story is a multi-layered tale about never giving up on a childhood dream. It's an inspirational story about talent meeting hard work and overcoming the knocks and disappointments to live a dream. A unique story of how patience, persistence and determination made that dream a reality.
Ciaran was born during the Northern Ireland conflict and grew up in The Troubles. As a young musician he cut his teeth doing gig after gig in the tough bars of Belfast and Derry. During this turbulent time, Ciaran witnessed the bombs and bullets of sectarian violence and the paramilitary attacks that enflamed a divided society.
Ciaran was a founding member of the popular Irish band ‘Leya’ which toured for seven years with major acts including Snow Patrol and Embrace. The band also released the critically acclaimed album ‘Watch you don’t take off’. The band was nominated for Best New Act at the Irish ‘Metor’ Music Awards.
Ciaran’s first big break came in 2010 when he received a Grammy nomination for Madonna’s worldwide hit single ‘Celebration’, which he co-wrote with the American megastar and English producer Paul Oakenfold. Ciaran soon became a regular drawcard at music festivals around the world including Brazil’s Rock in Rio. He has opened concerts for acts such as Paul McCartney, Crowded House, The Script and Gotye.
Just as his reputation as a performer kept growing, his career as a gifted composer continued to flourish. He has worked on multiple movie soundtracks, including writing all the songs for the U2-supported feature film Killing Bono.
In 2011, Ciaran became the singer of the legendary Australian band INXS. He has toured extensively with INXS throughout South America, Europe and Australasia.
Ciaran’s song ‘Hey Baby Doll’ which was sung by Al Pacino in the critically-acclaimed movie Danny Collins received an Oscar shortlist nomination.
Talking Points
It’s A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll
Ciaran's story includes growing up in war-torn Northern Ireland, from gigging in Belfast through the bombs and violence of The Troubles, to receiving a Grammy nomination with Madonna walking out on stage in front of tens of thousands of people, hearing Al Pacino first sing his song 'Hey Baby Doll' for the feature film Imagine, and recording and performing throughout the world as the frontman of INXS. It’s A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock n’ Roll
A motivational presentation about what it takes to make it in the music industry, and the importance of teamwork, collaboration and not giving up on your dreams.
Stories From The Road With Ciaran Gribbin & Paul Beard
What's the world of Rock 'n' Roll really like?Stories From The Road With Ciaran Gribbin & Paul Beard
Join Grammy-nominated songwriter and former singer of INXS, Ciaran Gribbin, and former Robbie Williams Musical Director and keys player, Mr. Paul Beard, aka 'Beardy' for an up-close and personal conversation about their time on the road writing, recording, and touring with some of the biggest names in music!
This intimate show is an engaging 60 minutes of entertaining and humorous stories sprinkled with live music performances.
Stories include how Ciaran Gribbin met Andrew Farriss from INXS while on tour in Australia in support of Paolo Nutini. A meeting that led to Ciaran standing on stage with INXS in front of 30,000people in Brazil just 12 months later.
You'll hear how Paul Beard always dreamt of playing Wembley Stadium as a young boy; later, Beardywent on to play the stadium no less than eight times with Robbie Williams! How Ciaran Gribbin sang backing vocals for every track except one on the Snow Patrol album 'Eyes Open'. That one track was 'Chasing Cars,' which became one of Snow Patrol's biggest hits. So why didn't Ciaran sing the BV's on that song... because he had to jump on a plane back to Belfast to play a pub gig for a few hundred pounds!
Beardy has stories for days about his time staying in the home of Carrie Fisher (Princess Leya) for two solid weeks in Los Angeles while on tour with James Blunt in the USA. She became one of his biggest fans.
And the stories go on...
Ciaran and Paul perform songs relevant to their careers throughout the show from artists such as; INXS, Robbie Williams, The Beatles, Art Garfunkel, Snow Patrol, U2, Madonna, and many more.
This is a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with two artists who've played at the 'pointy end' of the music industry. A show guaranteed not to disappoint!
Rock and Roll Teambuilding
Rock and Roll Team Building is a high energy engaging session perfectly suited to open or close a conference. Uniting your audience with the one thing everyone on this planet loves - music. Your audience will learn to sing in three part harmony choir, enjoy a hilarious segment with audience ‘rockstar’ performances and collaborate to write an original song from scratch using the theme of your event as the focus. Led by real rockstar, Ciaran Gribbin, this is the 10/10 team building activity that will not disappoint.
Rock and Roll Teambuilding
In Performance
Whether performing solo or with a full band, Ciaran’s vocal and musical talents accompanied by his experience in being able to read a room is unsurpassed. Ciaran is THE performer you want to have at your event to engage your audience either with a jaw dropping acoustic performance or with a full band to pack the dance floor from the first to last song.
In Performance
Video
Ciaran Gribbin | Saxton Speakers
Ciaran Gribbin | Mystify | Saxton Speakers
Audio
I really enjoyed not just your presentation and stories of growing up in Belfast but also the incredible gig you did for us. You and your band really rocked it. You are a true talent and an ... keep reading Keystone Financial
Our team was amazed at the calibre of Ciaran and his team and felt special to have such a professional performance individualised for our event. Ciaran did a great job of enthusing and engaging our team in conjunction with meeting our corporate themes and objectives. I would happily recommend Ciaran for other corporations looking to bring an event to life.
Ciaran provided a captivating insight into his life growing up in Northern Ireland and weaved the convention theme, Life Changing Conversations, into his presentation. These conversations helped shape his future and showed us that trusting in people, never giving up and striving forward against all odds to achieve your dreams, is possible. Ciaran was an absolute delight to work with and a truly engaging speaker.
Thank you very much for your recommendation to have Ciaran Gribbin come and speak at Sydfest on Wednesday evening. He was incredibly well received and his address was genuine, meaningful and more importantly, it struck a chord with our college community. Furthermore, Ciaran's performances with our students were fantastic and inspiring. What I found most impressive, however, (and testament to his great character) was the time he took to work with our student musicians to fine tune the songs that they were all performing together. Without a doubt the students, have benefitted positively from the experience and will remember this experience for years to come.
Thank you Ciaran for being part of our Grand Finale Luncheon at ASFA 2014. Your professionalism and commitment to meet our brief was outstanding and you exceeded all our expectations on the day. Having a blend of you telling your story and playing music was one of the most special combinations I have witnessed in 20+ years of organising events. Testament to its success, was looking around to 1,600 guests absolutely mesmerised. Congratulations.
Ciarin Gribbin is an ultimate performer. He and the band delivered an awesome set of performances throughout our Awards Night. They kicked off with background music as the room filled up with guests taking their seats, an opening act followed which got the room energised, kicking off the night at high octane. Throughout the evening they continued to deliver performance after performance during networking breaks. They performed stings for the major awards and did not skip a beat between awards, getting winners up on stage and hyping up the room. The night concluded with a closing set as the guests danced the night away one last time. I strongly recommend Ciaran Gribbin and would book them again in a heartbeat. The vibe was electric and the energy unparalleled.
Sensational, Ciaran and his band were absolutely amazing. It made our conference a total success.
Ciaran and the band kept the momentum of the session moving, pushing the audience to engage just at the right level (ie just out of their comfort zone, but not uncomfortably!).
Best team building I've booked! Ciaran and the band were GREAT!
