STEPHEN MAGUIRE

The News Review - March 5, 2009

Irish acoustical performance planned
By Kaleb Dunlop

Fresh from Ireland – via Saskatoon – will be a live acoustical performance Yorkton and area residents won’t want to miss. Irish singer and songwriter Stephen Maguire will be performing in the city later this month. Hailing from Belfast, North Ireland but now residing in Saskatoon Maguire says he has been involved in the music scene from a very young age. It so happens his father – Patrick Maguire – was a musician who played often with Irish show bands and even with world famous musician Van Morrison.

“So I have grown up in music, it was really the show band era and all the music from the 60s,” said Maguire in a recent telephone interview with The News Review.

His father taught him how to play guitar and shortly after he began song writing. As a youth Maguire says he took up theatre taking
on roles in Oliver, Grease, and the West Side Story – all of which were performed at some of Ireland’s leading venues including the Grand Opera House and the Belfast Waterfront.

Just over 10 years ago, in 1998, Maguire started his solo career playing a concert at Belfast’s famous Ulster Hall with the Northern Irish band Cahuna. In 2001 Maguire auditioned in a search for performers throughout North Ireland called The Talent. His audition won him a spot with well known band Unity. Unity became very popular in North Ireland, and even performed for the Belfast City Hall’s turning on of the Christmas tree lights for over 40,000 people. The band also appeared often on television, radio and at events. It has played live for over 250,000 people throughout its existence.

After enjoying a couple of years of success, Unity members opted to “do their own thing”, and since then Maguire has been playing solo at corporate, charity, university, and sporting events mainly in Northern Ireland and the Canadian Prairies.

So why the prairies you may be wondering. Maguire says at one point in his career he performed at the pre-game show at a Belfast Giants game. It was there he wound up meeting his wife Tera, who just so happened to grow up right here in Yorkton. This month he’s happy to have the opportunity to perform in her hometown.

The talented performer says Yorkton can expect to experience a live acoustic show with a few hidden secrets. He adds, there will be some effects during the show and therefore the set will be bigger than it would normally be.

“There’s an Irish influence there but the majority of the stuff that will be presented is all original,” he details, going on to explain this show will not be quite like the last time he was in Yorkton. Maguire says he has “new stories and a new vibe. The way I treat it is every show I do has to be different
because you gather stories from different places.” Maguire recorded his self titled album in Yorkton at Freedom Sound Recording.

According to the musician, “The album is completely acoustic and will be pretty much what you are getting in the live performance.” He adds, his self titled album, along with his new single will be available at his performances. The album should also be available at CD Plus in Yorkton.

Maguire says he is looking forward to coming back to Yorkton and he’s hoping to see some old faces, as well as some new faces at the concert.

Stephen Maguire will be performing at the Spot Nightclub Thursday, March 19. The time is to be announced and will be posted at: www.stephenmaguirelive.com. Call The Spot for further details.