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The singer has died at the age of 72. She was described as a "music pioneer who helped open the door for generations of artists".

A singer has been dubbed "one of the greats" following her death. Dolores Keane has died aged 72 after a long and acclaimed career in Irish folk music. Described as "the kindest individual you could ever meet" and "an extraordinary singer", she died in her sleep at her home in Galway on Monday morning.

Speaking about her death Clare FM's Padraic Flaherty said: "Dolores Keane was one of the greats, an Irish music pioneer who helped open the door for generations of artists. Her voice was truly extraordinary. Rest in peace, Dolores."

She was one of the founders of the group De Dannan in the Seventies, with the group finding major success not just in their home country but in the US and around the world. After two years in the group Keane embarked on a solo career. Her first solo album There Was A Maid was released in 1978.

She moved to London with her then-husband John Faulkner. The pair worked on scores for movies and made documentary programmes for the BBC and formed two bands, The Reel Union and Kinvara. By the mid-Eighties she was back in Ireland and returned to De Dannan and recorded two further albums with them.

Another solo album, Dolores Keane, followed in 1991. A subsequent album the following year featured the song A Lion in a Cage, protesting the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. It became her first Irish No1 single and she performed it when he was released in 1990.

In 1995 she was given the Fiddler's Green Hall of Fame' award for her "significant contribution to the cause of Irish music and culture". In 2022 Keane was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Dublin at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil awards ceremony for Irish traditional music.

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