Biography (Courtesy of the Artist�s site, 2005).


Born September 26, 1957 in Kinsale, Ireland, Edward Finbar Paul Wright began singing professionally with one of his four brothers at the tender age six. He was the youngest of Robert and Julia's eight children. He also began studying piano, at that early age, with Ms. Maura Hourihane, a local teacher whose dedication and love of music left a permanent mark on his life. "There was always music in our house."

Considered an excellent athlete, Finbar attended Farranferris College at age eleven, a prepatory school known for its Hurling tradition. At age sixteen, young Mr. Wright left for Spain to study for the priesthood. "I was a quiet, reflective young boy." He returned to Ireland to take a Bachelor of Divinity Degree at Maynooth College where he joined the choir and became senior cantor in charge of liturgical singing.

In 1979 he was the deacon at the Pope's Mass in Phoenix Park and read the Gospel to an audience of 1.25 million. At the age of twenty one he was the youngest man ever to be ordained into the priesthood.

His formal studies in the vocal arts did not come until 1984 at the Cork School of Music where he studied singing with Robert Beare, theory of music with George Dunne and piano with Angel Climent. In 1986 he won all the major singing awards at Feis Ceoil, Dublin. Subsequently he studied with Ernst Haefligger in Munich and internationally acclaimed soprano Ileana Cotrubas at Aldeburgh, England. However, the greatest influence on his vocal technique and musical confidence has been that of Dr. Veronica Dunne in Dublin with whom he continues to study whenever possible.

After leaving the priesthood in 1989, Finbar has emerged in just those few years as one of Ireland's great romantic singers. He has hosted his own highly rated television series, "Music of the Night", for RTE and undertaken major concert tours of Canada, USA and Australia. Also among his achievements in that short but dazzling span of time, he has recorded 6 solo albums, all of which hit gold and 4 of which hit platinum! The legendary soprano, Monserrat Caballe, personally invited Finbar to be her special guest when she made her concert debut in Dublin in 1993. He has appeared in public performance with such diverse personalities as Phil Coulter, Kiri Te Kanawa and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Today, professionally, Mr. Wright is not only a world-renown artist, he is also an entrepreneur and a very successful businessman, traveling extensively, all over the world. Among Finbar's many involvements is one as a member of THE Irish Tenors !

Finbar lives with his wife of 15 years Angela and their two children in County Cork , Ireland. He is an avid gardener, tennis player and songwriter.