(Posted October 30, 2006)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Irish-American singer Cathie Ryan, former lead singer for the Celtic vocal group Cherish the Ladies, will perform at Juniata College at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 3 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.
For information about the Juniata College Artist Series, please call (814) 641-3608. General admission tickets for single performances are $20, except where otherwise noted. Single-show tickets for seniors over age 65 and children age 18 and under are $12. Juniata College students are admitted free with a student ID.
Since her seven-year tenure as lead singer of Cherish the Ladies, the Detroit-born Ryan has established herself as one of Celtic music's most popular and enduring singer-songwriters. She has released four critically acclaimed CDs on Shanachie Records: "Cathie Ryan," "The Music of What Happens," "Somewhere Along the Road," and her latest, "The Farthest Wave."
In 2003 Ryan was included in the Irish music collection, "A Woman's Heart." It was the first time Americans were featured in the series and she shared the honor with Allison Krauss, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Ryan also has written a variety of original Celtic songs, which have been recorded by Irish vocalists such as Frances Black and Mary Black.

She has released four CDs on Shanachie Records: "Cathie Ryan," "The Music of What Happens," "Somewhere Along the Road," and her latest, "The Farthest Wave."

Ryan has performed on national and public television in the United States and Europe. She also has appeared on NPR's "Mountain Stage" and "Thistle and Shamrock," BBC2 in England, and Radio Scotland. She was voted one of the Top 100 Irish Americans by Irish-America Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times recently named her, "One of the leading voices in Celtic music."
Ryan was born in Ireland, but her parents emigrated to Detroit in 1957 to find work in the automotive industry. Every summer, she visited her grandparents in Ireland, where her grandmother, a noted fiddler and singer, taught Ryan traditional music and songs.
Ryan has built a loyal following throughout Europe and North America by touring steadily and singing "songs of the heart." "Cathie Ryanâ?¦ moves her richly sympathetic voice between traditional songs and new ones infused with Celtic mystery," says the New York Times in a review of one of Ryan's shows. Members of the Cathie Ryan Band are: Ben Wittman, percussion and keyboards; Brendan Dolan, piano, flue, whistles; Sara Milonovich, fiddle, flute, whistles and mandolin; and Greg Anderson, guitar and bouzouki. By Muhammed Shamaa

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.