Years active 1980s-present Origin Orkney, United Kingdom | Website www.wrigleysisters.com Genres Celtic music, Folk music | |
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Albums Mither o' the Sea, Skyran, Huldreland, The Watch Stone, Dancing Fingers, Orkney After Sunset: Tales and Tunes, Idiom Members Hazel Wrigley, Jennifer Wrigley Record labels Greentrax Recordings, Attic Records, Geosound, Geo Sound Records Similar Seelyhoo, Liz Carroll, Ivan Drever, Saltfishforty, Malinky |
The wrigley sisters live at irishfest in milwaukee wi 8 21 16
Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley are an international folk music duo playing fiddle (Jennifer) and guitar/piano (Hazel). Born in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, they started to play when given instruments on their 8th birthday and joined the Strathspey and Reel Society in their early years. In their early teens they were playing, often with Emma their older sister, at local concerts and ceilidhs around Orkney where they were spotted by Orkney's only recording studio who launched them into Dancing Fingers their first album.
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The success of this album moved them into the UK folk circuit but this proved arduous (Cornwall to Middlesbrough in back-to-back gigs) and eventually they moved to Edinburgh after launching their second album The Watch Stone.
Playing at London's Barbican Centre in 1995, they were spotted by a New Zealand music scout who invited them to play at the Auckland Folk Festival which prompted the twins to organise a "world tour". At about that time Jennifer won the UK's premier accolade for new folk talent (BBC Young Tradition Award) which helped boost the tour and their international reputation. Working without a manager, they organised a second world tour in 1999 and issued a third album Huldreland (in the Folk Roots top ten of 1998). Four transatlantic trips in 1999 cemented their place on the international folk scene.
In 2001 they issued an album "Skyran."
In 2005 they returned to Orkney and acquired premises in Kirkwall where they launched The Reel a music/social centre offering an instrument/music shop, lessons to aspiring musicians ... and a coffee shop where 'sessions' can often be heard.
Songs
The Ba RagHuldreland · 1997
The Heroes of LonghopeThe Watch Stone · 1994
The BeachcomberOrkney After Sunset: Tales and Tunes · 2000