Joanie Madden was born in New York to Irish parents from County Clare and County Galway and raised in a musical household. At a very early age, Joanie was exposed to the finest Irish traditional music listening to her father and his friends play music at family gatherings and social events. She began taking lessons from legendary flutist and National Heritage Award winner Jack Coen, and within a few short years, she had achieved great success winning the world championship in Irish music on both the concert flute and tin whistle. During that time, Joanie also became the first American to win the coveted Senior All-Ireland Championship on the whistle.

Madden has sold over 500,000 solo albums and has performed on over 200 recordings, including three Grammy-winning albums running the gamut from Pete Seeger and Sinead O’Connor to the Boston Pops. Throughout her musical career, she has amassed a plethora of awards and citations. Her merits include being the youngest member inducted into both the Irish-American Musicians Hall of Fame and the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Hall of Fame, she was chosen for the Wild Geese award, where she joined an impressive list of previous honorees, including Frank McCourt, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, and Michael Flatley.

Joanie has been named to Irish America’s Top 100 and Power Women lists. She was also named Traditional Musician of the Year by the Irish Voice newspaper, all for her contributions to promoting and preserving Irish culture in the United States. In 2010, Joanie was forever immortalized on the streets of her native Bronx when a street was named after her on the Grand Concourse: “Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies”.

In 2011, she was bestowed one of the nation’s highest awards as she was chosen for the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. In 2012, she was a recipient of the esteemed USA Artist Fellowship grant, singled out as one of the most innovative and influential artists in America, becoming the first Irish traditional musician to do so. In 2013 she won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Music Awards.

Joanie’s crowning achievement is a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. This award is the United States government’s highest honor that the nation bestows upon its folk and traditional artists, considered “national living treasures” in recognition of lifetime achievement, artistic excellence and contributions to our nation’s cultural heritage.

Click here to read Kristin Cotter McGowan’s interview with Joanie.