Johnny Cunningham


Johnny Cunningham was a Scottish folk musician and composer, instrumental in spreading interest in traditional Celtic music.
Johnny Cunningham was born on 27 August 1957 in Portobello, Edinburgh. He was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but later became inactive.
He was a founding member of Silly Wizard, as well as a member of Relativity, The Raindogs, and Nightnoise. Throughout his career, Cunningham was a fiddler, composer, and producer. His younger brother, Phil Cunningham, also a former member of Silly Wizard, is a multi-instrumentalist best known for his piano-accordion and whistle playing. Johnny Cunningham died of a heart attack on 15 December 2003 in New York City at the age of 46.

Discography

Solo
With Phil Cunningham
With Silly Wizard
  • Silly Wizard
  • Caledonia's Hardy Sons
  • So Many Partings
  • Live in America
  • Golden Golden
  • A Glint of Silver
  • Live Wizardry
With Relativity
  • Relativity
  • Gathering Pace
With Nightnoise
With Celtic Fiddle Festival
  • Celtic Fiddle Festival
  • Celtic Fiddle Festival: Encore
  • Rendezvous
With Susan McKeown
With Thomas Moore
With The Raindogs
  • Lost Souls
  • Border Drive-In Theatre
With others
In the 1990s Johnny worked with the New York-based theater company Mabou Mines on a theatrical production, Peter & Wendy. He composed music and lyrics for this musical adaptation of J.M. Barrie's play "Peter Pan," which won two OBIE Awards. The soundtrack album from this innovative production was recorded and released nationally in 1997. Productions of "Peter & Wendy" have been presented and revived numerous times.