Karan Casey (born 1969) is an Irish folk singer, and a former member of the Irish band Solas. She resides in Cork, Ireland. Early years Casey was born in Ballyduff Lower, Kilmeaden, County Waterford, Ireland. Her family encouraged her to sing in the house, in a church choir and at school. At Waterford Regional Technical College she studied piano then took music at University College Dublin in 1987. Having learned to copy Ella Fitzgerald's scat singing, she performed in a Dublin bistro several nights per week while still a student. At the Royal Irish Academy of Music she studied classical music and sang in a jazz band, then a folk-ballad band, then another jazz band. She also fell under the influence of Dublin folk singer Frank Harte. During this time she also formed her own band, called "Dorothy". Emigration to the USA In 1993, Casey moved to New York City, to study jazz at Long Island University. When she began to frequent Irish traditional sessions in New York, she started singing Irish traditional music again, performing mostly in bars and local centres. During 1994, she sang with Atlantic Bridge before joining Solas, recording five songs on their début album in 1996. At the same time, she was still performing jazz and folk material herself at the Tramps club in Manhattan, accompanied only by a percussionist. In 1997, Casey recorded a solo album, Songlines, inspired by the novel of the same name by Bruce Chatwin and produced by Séamus Egan. The album featured both Irish traditional and contemporary folk songs, and included several members of Solas. Solo career Casey left Solas at the beginning of 1999 to pursue her solo ambitions. She then moved back to Ireland, although frequently travelled between her home in Cork and America. In 2000, she collaborated with several other vocalists on Seal Maiden: a Celtic Musical. It concerned the mythical creature called the selkie (in this case, a seal-woman). The album featured a story written by Irish playwright Marina Carr narrated by Casey, produced by Niall Vallely and Leib Ostrow, and featured contributions from Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Iarla Ó Lionaird, Máiréad Ní Mhaonaigh, Michael McGoldrick, Mel Mercier and Robbie Overson. In 2001, Casey finished working on her second solo album, The Winds Begin to Sing (2001) which was well received by critics and propelled her into a stable solo career. She released Distant Shore