Fans just could not stop raving about the voice of 14-year-old Irish singer Damian McGinty! The young talent sang lead on Celtic Thunder’s live performance of “A Bird Without Wings,” and he really blew everyone away. The young man has such a sweet tenor voice and gave an emotional performance that was at once delicate and powerful. Damian was backed up by Celtic Thunder’s principal singer George Donaldson, who provided a sonorous counterpoint to the young singer.

There’s something about the incredible voices of Damien and Donaldson coming together with the uplifting traditional music from Celtic Thunder that makes the performance truly magical. The Music Man is confident in saying there are very few singers that come in as complete a package as Damien does at just 14, as he also gives off a calm and confident demeanor onstage that makes him look right at home.

Celtic Thunder uploaded the performance of “A Bird Without Wings” on September 18, 2024. However, the performance was actually taken from the band’s 2007 show Live From Ireland. Fans were mighty impressed with the performance, and added comments such as “Beautiful, moving song. What a magical voice from such a young man. Lovely. It brought a tear to my eye” and “This performance gives me goosebumps every time I watch this!”

Damien has featured in a number of popular videos with Celtic Thunder. Another hit video featuring the talented singer is his performance of the traditional Irish song “Buachaill On Eirne,” performed live with Celtic Thunder in Ontario in 2015. At the time of this performance of the Gaelic language song, Damien was 23 years old, and it showcases his development as a vocalist since his earlier years.

Damian McGinty is a 32-year-old singer who was born into a Catholic family in Derry, Northern Ireland. He joined Celtic Thunder when he was 14, which makes his performance of “A Bird Without Wings” all the more impressive given he was a rookie with the group at the time. Damian initially filled the role of boy soprano in Celtic Thunder. Over time, his voice transitioned into a baritone, although he retained his ability to sing in the tenor range.

The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Damian has also found success as an actor. He placed as a top 12 finalist out of 40,000 hopefuls in the audition to appear on The Glee Project reality show. He went on to win the competition, and subsequently appeared on 18 episodes of the hit American television show Glee.