Facts: - instrument: vocals mandolin mandola harmonica bouzouki guitar-bodied bouzouki hurdy-gurdy - years active: 1962 -- present - birth name: andrew kennedy irvine - origin: st john 's wood , london , uk - genre: irish music english scottish old-timey american bulgarian balkan australian folk - birth date: 14 june 1942 - name: andy irvine - background: solo_singer - image: patrick_street_andy_irvine_smile . jpg - associated acts: sweeney patrick street east wind mozaik lapd usher 's island 's men planxty paul brady dick gaughan mosaic - occupation: musician , singer-songwriter Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of andy irvine -lrb- musician -rrb- .
Answer:
andrew kennedy '' andy '' irvine -lrb- 14 june 1942 -rrb- is an irish folk musician , singer-songwriter , and a founding member of popular bands sweeney 's men , planxty , patrick street , mozaik , lapd and usher 's island .he is an accomplished player of the mandolin , mandola , bouzouki , harmonica , hurdy-gurdy .he has been influential in folk music for over five decades , during which he collected and recorded a large repertoire of songs and tunes he meticulously researched and assembled from books , and old recordings rooted in the irish , english , scottish , eastern european , australian and american old-time and folk traditions .he often sets these traditional songs to new music , and he also writes his own songs about his personal experiences or about the lives and struggles of his heroes : michael davitt , mary harris '' mother '' jones , douglas mawson , raoul wallenberg , and many others .imbued with a deep sense of social justice , irvine often selects or writes songs that are presented from the victim 's perspective , either as groups of people : the emigrants ; the brutalized migrant workers ; the exploited textile strikers or coalminers ; or as single individuals : the destitute young man ostracized or murdered on the order of his sweetheart 's rich father ; the down-on-his-luck farmer or the unemployed worker ; the young man inveigled by the army 's recruiting sergeant ; the scapegoats ; the woman seduced and betrayed by an unfaithful man or disowned by her father .irvine also denounces worker deaths and industrial diseases , and laments the plight of hunted animals .his repertoire includes several very amusing songs but also sad ones of unrequited love ; songs of lovers cruelly separated , or dramatically reunited .he sings about men or women adopting a variety of disguises , about famous racehorses , about a fantastical fox preying on young maidens , and about the violent lives of outlaws .as a child actor , irvine honed his performing talent from an early age and learned the...