Don Baker
01 Nov 2019

Born and bred in Dublin, Don Baker first learnt to play harmonica as a young lad in hospital recovering from a bout of TB. While convalescing, unable to go out like the other boys of his age, he immersed himself in The Blues and most especially The Blues Harmonica listening to the recordings Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf.
Fifty years on and Don is still immersed, still listening, still performing to the songs of Blues legends and adding to the Blues canon with songs and compositions of his own as he developed his talent from musician to gifted songwriter in his own right. Indeed his songs have been recorded by scores of other artists including Sinead O’Connor, Charlie McCoy, Finbar Furey, Declan O’Rourke and Liam O’Maonlai. He has released fifteen albums and shared stages with Tom Jones, Sinead O’Connor and Van Morrison.
As an actor Don played opposite three-time Oscar Winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “In the Name of the Father” and in “Mia, Liebe meines Lebens” opposite Claudia Cardinale while on television he portrayed gangster Thomas Flynn in RTÉ’s “Fair City”.
But it is while performing on stage, back immersed in The Blues that Bono’s favourite harmonica player really comes to life. Don is first and foremost a true entertainer.
Don’s new album covering 40 years of his recording career entitled “Don Baker The Blues Man” - Released July 2019.