Barnbrack

Barnbrack is a Northern Irish male vocal/instrumental folk/pop group, with band members Alex Quinn, Jimmy McPeake, and Eoin McMahon. The word 'barnbrack' is a play on the Anglicised Irish word "Barmbrack", a type of bread that contains fruit.^[1] Barnbrack separated in 2003, after the premature death of Quinn's wife, Deirdre, aged 55.^[2]

While Barnbrack has had many popular songs, such as "The Fly" and the "Unicorn Song", the band's only notable chart success was with a single called "Belfast", written by Lisburn-born man and band member Alex Quinn. The song described the feelings felt by an expatriate, who is planning to return to Ulster and the city he left behind.^[3] The song was released on the Homespun label. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 16 March 1985, and reached no. 45; it was in the chart for several weeks.^[4]

In 2009, the Belfast Telegraph reported that, after six years apart, the former members of the band were planning a reunion. The band is now back together and is currently touring Northern Ireland.^[5]