Mike Hanrahan began his professional career in 1977 with Maura O’Connell in a duo called Tumbleweed and in 1980 he joined Stockton’s Wing as guitarist, singer and songwriter and recorded the album Take a Chance.
He wrote all songs on Stockton’s Wing’s ground breaking and critically acclaimed Album Light in the Western Sky (1984) including hit songs Beautiful Affair and Walk Away. Stockton’s Wing appeared at all major European and American Folk Festivals and collaborated with Bella Fleck, The Dubliners, Finbar Furey and Maura O’Connell plus a BBC Christmas special with Val Doonican. In 1988 they played support to Michael Jackson’s Cork gigs during his Thriller tour and in 1989 Sammy Davis Junior invited the band to perform at his Lansdowne Road shows in Dublin. In 1990 Stockton’s Wing went on location to take part in the Noel Pearson/Jim Sheridan film production of the John B. Keane play The Field which featured Oscar nominee Richard Harris and John Hurt. Mike Left Stockton’s Wing in 1994 to tour with Finbar Furey and pursue a solo career in Europe recording his first album for German label Wundertutte, Someone Like You.
Ronnie Drew invited him to collaborate on his 1997 theatre show ‘Ronnie I hardly knew Ya’ and they worked together until Ronnie’s death in 2008. Mike produced four albums for Ronnie, two with Eleanor Shanley which gave us the iconic duet ‘A Couple More Years’. The theatre show had two runs in Dublin and a very successful Off Broadway run at The Irish Theatre. They collaborated with many artists during these years including Liam Clancy, Finbar Furey, Johnny McEvoy, Jim McCann and Paddy Reilly as The Legends of Irish Folk with Mike as Musical Director. Mike currently performs with a reunited Stockton’s Wing who have signed with Universal records to release a back-catalogue collection in January of 2020. He also writes and performs with Leslie Dowdall and is currently writing Remembering Ronnie Drew with Eleanor Shanley for an extensive tour throughout Europe.