Biography
Robbi McMillen was raised from an early age in Bóthar Seoighe, a new-Gaeltacht area, in the west of Belfast and was brought up a native Gaelic speaker. His singing began while at Cumann Chluain Árd at the age of thirteen with award-winning sean-nós songstress Róise Nic Chorraidh, who asked him to sing the chorus to ‘Cearc agus Coilleach’. Within a year they had formed Cabéal, and although short-lived, the Cultúrlann-based group proved an insightful venture. While learning new songs, Robbi was beginning to write his own in both Gaelic and in English.
In 2004, Robbi released ‘Aisling Bhán’, a small collection of Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditional songs with the help and encouragement of German-based multi-instrumentalist Rüdiger Reinhardt. The album, a sean-nós collection of mainly Ulster songs, influenced Robbi’s songwriting and in 2006 he began writing and recording ‘Façade’ at home, featuring instrumental works from around the world put to songs, both traditional and newly-written, in four languages: Gaeilge, Gàidhlig, Latin and English. ‘Façade’ was subsequently re-released and re-mastered two years after its initial release featuring newly recorded songs, both self-penned and traditional; from Donegal and Louth.
Although Robbi is rarely able to perform solo gigs due to illness, he has built a fan-base and made friends from around the world, with whom he keeps in contact with regularly.
Robbi is currently working on a new project to be released in the Spring of 2010.
