Daniel J. "Dan" Sullivan was born in 1875 to Hanora and Daniel A. Sullivan in Boston, Massachusetts. Dan Sullivan worked for the Steinway Piano Corporation in Boston before himself becoming a full-time professional musician. In addition to his classical piano repertoire, his father, a professional fiddle and flute player, introduced him to Irish traditional music and to variety theatre. His focus shifted more exclusively toward Irish music beginning... around 1906, when he began writing music with Chauncy Olcott. He formed and led the dance-hall, gramophone, and radio band Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band beginning in the 1920s, specializing in playing Irish traditional music and popular songs. He also recorded some of his own playing and compositions, both on piano rolls and on recording discs. In 1923, Sullivan opened his own piano store, which he operated until his death in 1948.

Sources:

Carolan, Nicholas, and Brian Doyle, "Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band 78s, 1920s-1930s," ITMA, June 1, 2014. https://www.itma.ie/playlists/dansullivansshamrockband/. Accessed July 10, 2024.

Neely, Daniel T., personal correspondence, February 2021.

Vallely, Fintan, editor. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Third edition, Revised and Enlarged., Cork University Press, 2024.

Daniel A. Sullivan was born in 1840 in County Cork, Ireland. His family relocated to County Kerry, where he learned music from fiddle player Mike Hurley and from other Kerry musicians. He continued learning music as an adult during twenty years living in London, England. He and Hanora Sullivan married shortly after he emigrated, in 1870, to Boston, Massachusetts. Dubbed by Francis O'Neill as the most famous professional Irish fiddle player on the... east coast of the United States, Sullivan also played the flute, made violins, and taught music. He died in 1912.

Sources:

"Baptism of DAN SULLIVAN of N/R on 8 May 1840", Irish Genealogy. https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/0603d30018964 . Accessed July 11, 2024.

"Daniel J. Sullivan," Find A Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196272575/daniel-j.-sullivan

Neely, Daniel T., personal correspondence, February 2021.

O’Neill, Francis. Irish Minstrels and Musicians: With Numerous Dissertations on Related Subjects. The Regan Printing House, 1913.

Vallely, Fintan, editor. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Third edition, Revised and Enlarged., Cork University Press, 2024.

Daniel T. Neely is a musician and ethnomusicologist specializing in the music of Ireland and Jamaica. He received a Ph.D in Musicology from New York University in 2008.

As a musician, he is involved in the Irish music community in New York, New York. He writes a weekly column in the Irish Echo, served as the Public Relations Officer for the Mid-Atlantic Region of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann, was the artistic director of the Augusta Irish Week in Elkins,... West Virginia, and has played tenor banjo and directed ensembles and sessions including the traditional music session at Lillie’s Bar and Restaurant in Manhattan, the New York Céilí Band, and the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra.

Neely's research focuses on Irish music in America, particularly as it was played in Boston, Massachusetts in the period 1890-1930 by musicians including Daniel Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan, William and Michael Hanafin, Shaun O'Nolan, and others who were involved with the Dan Sullivan Shamrock Band. Neely also focuses on Jamaican mento music, which resulted in his dissertation, “Mento, Jamaica’s Original Music”: Development, Tourism and the Nationalist Frame, and other publications. He also performed on and was music director of the Jolly Boys mento band’s 2010 album Great Expectation.

Sources:

Daniel T. Neely, personal website. https://danieltneely.com/home. Accessed 2024 July 10.

Smith, Sean, "Writer, musician, organizer, academic, Dan Neely is on the lookout for insights," Boston Irish, March 30, 2017. https://www.bostonirish.com/arts/writer-musician-organizer-academic-dan-neely-lookout-insights