Damian McGinty has accomplished more than most do in a lifetime before his 24th birthday.
At the young age of 14, McGinty got his big break performing with Celtic Thunder, a traditional Irish music group. His career began to skyrocket from there, as he won the reality television show, The Glee Project, in 2011. After this win, he performed as Rory Flanagan on the popular television series, Glee, for seventeen episodes. Recently, McGinty rejoined Celtic Thunder for a legacy performance while simultaneously working on solo projects.
His successful career in music can be traced back to his early passion for singing.
“I started singing when I was five or six years old and from there, at that age I didn’t realize I wanted to pursue it as a profession but I just knew that I was really passionate about it and I loved doing it, I loved singing and I loved anything musical and listening to all different genres of music,” says McGinty.
It wasn’t until his break with Celtic Thunder that McGinty knew he could pursue music as a career.
At 14, McGinty was thrown into the world of show business as one of the original members of the group.
“It was one of those experiences where it was truly once in a lifetime and I will never, ever forget it…a real moment, that stands the hairs on the back of your neck, stands them up,” says McGinty. “I was terrified, I was absolutely terrified. But sometimes, you have to face your fear and that was one of those things I knew, even at fourteen, that this was what I was meant to be doing and this is what I’m on earth for. I thoroughly believed that then, I believe it even more now.”
He says joining the group was an “awfully large learning experience.”
“I was very very lucky to work with people that were willing to help me learn and to help sort of nurture me along this path,” says McGinty of his first experience with the group.
After his experience performing with Celtic Thunder, McGinty took a chance on the reality television show The Glee Project, ultimately landing a role on Glee as Irish exchange student Rory. McGinty says he was “ill experienced” for the gig, as he found television to be vastly different than live performing.
“Celtic Thunder is very big, a theatre-type performance whereas when you’re shooting a TV show, you have to condense your performance because every subtle thing looks huge on camera. I was not the kid growing up that was taking acting lessons all the time. I didn’t dream of acting. Acting sort of fell into my lap, more than me chasing it. I was going in and again I was only 19 at the time.”
This inexperience, however, is what McGinty says Glee’s creator Ryan Murphy liked about his character. He says what he misses most about his Glee experience is the people and the family atmosphere he became accustomed too, working 18-hour days six days a week.
Now, McGinty is preparing to embark on the Legacy Tour with Celtic Thunder this fall–the biggest tour Celtic Thunder has ever done.
The group just took this tour to Australia this passed May. McGinty says the group is “incredibly excited” for this end of the Legacy cycle. McGinty says he feels a strong connection to the group that gave him his first big break.
“I feel responsible for the work that Celtic Thunder does and I guess that responsibility comes from the fact that I was one of the original five that put in so much work to get Celtic Thunder on the ground, to give it legs, to give it life,” says McGinty. “That makes you feel responsible for a brand, that makes it feel like part of you. The reason I came back is because of those reasons, because I love the brand, I love working with the guys and I want it to grow, I want it to become bigger than it already is and I’m ambitious with it.”
Though McGinty has already had a whirlwind career, he’s still full of passion for the craft and his music. There’s no sign of McGinty slowing down anytime soon, with solo projects well underway.
McGinty told Celtic Canada he’s excited about the release of his solo Christmas album that became available on iTunes for purchase October 14 of this year.
“I’m pretty stoked about it, we’ve been working on it all year in with Warren Huart, who is obviously an incredibly famous producer, he’s produced the Fray to Daniel Powter to James Blunt, so me and him have been making that record all year and I’ve written two songs for it and then we’ve got a number of classics…it’s my first shot at having a full length album under Damian McGinty so it’s exciting, I can’t wait,” says McGinty.
On top of the Christmas album, McGinty has a debut record in the works. He says it’s coming across as an Indie/Pop album. He has been working on this album for the last three years and is expecting it to be ready to share with the world next year.
For more information about Celtic Thunder’s North American tour, visit their website at www.celticthunder.com. And be sure to keep an eye out for more from Damian McGinty—a young, talented, Irish artist.
