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Patricia Conroy is no stranger to the world of music. Born in Montreal, Patricia was raised in a strong musical environment, influenced by her mother's Maritime country background and her father's deep Irish roots. Patricia speaks fondly of the Celtic and country music that flowed through her home as a little girl, which ultimately led to piano and vocal lessons. She credits her early years of performing with her family band (the Shamrock Ceili Band), singing in church, and the always visiting musical guests in her home, as being her real musical training. There was always a fiddle, accordion or guitar being played, and I absolutely treasure those years.
Later, Patricia discovered the "California Country" sounds of Emmylou Harris, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne and was blown away. "That's the time I really knew what direction I wanted to go in musically". Patricia hooked up with like-minded musicians in Vancouver in the late 80's and eventually entered and won a Battle of the Bands contest. The prize of $10,000 gave her the opportunity to demo some of her original material. "That's when I got my first record deal with Warner Music Canada. I was thrilled! To top it off, my record producer; Randal Prescott, brought Vince Gill into the studio to sing background vocals on 'Blue Angel' and 'Take Me With You', two songs that I had written... what an honour!". She began touring extensively, making fans all over Canada.
Two years later, she followed with her second release, Bad Day for Trains, which featured the Canadian top 10 hit 'My Baby Loves Me' and two number ones, 'What Do You Care' and the title track. With this string of hits, Patricia quickly consolidated an intense following throughout Canada.
The fruits of this hard labour would eventually result in Patricia being named the Canadian Country Music Association's 'Female Vocalist of the Year' for 1994 and garner 'Album of the Year' status for her sophomore release. (CCMA - 1993).
Her final cd with Warner Canada You Can't Resist It - produced by John Mellencamp guitarist, Mike Wanchic and Justin Niebank - featured hit songs "What Else Can I Do","Keep Me Rockin", "I Don't Wanna Be the One","Somebody's Leavin" and the title track "You Can't Resist It". This success resulted in the well deserved and popular win at the 1999 Canadian Country Music Association Awards where Patricia was voted "Independent Female Artist of the Year." An award she went on to recieve 2 more times.
The next two independent CD's (produced by Bob Funk), kept the hits coming with fan favourites, like "Mary On the Dashboard, "Direction of Love" and "When"
Since then, Patricia Conroy has been busy writing for her next project and getting her songs recorded by Canadian stars "The Rankin Family",Jimmy Rankin, Michelle Wright Beverley Mahood, Lisa Brokop, One More Girl and Jimmy Rankin, Emerson Drive, Small Town Pistols,and U.S. Duo, Steel Magnolia.
She is currently working on a brand new CD produced by her husband, Bob Funk.
Through out her well-decorated career, Patricia has proven herself as one of Canada's top female artists yet still with all of these elements of success in place, Patricia Conroy views her musical journey as a work in progress, "I still strive to write the best song that I can and hope the fans enjoy what I do..... every year I'm grateful to be able to make a living writing and playing the music I love".
for more info visit: WWW.PATRICIACONROY.NET
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