Flynn

Born Martin Crotty in the Irish coastal town of Greystones in County Wicklow, the alternative folk-rock performer who later adopted the name Flynn resolved during the late 1980s that moving to the United States represented his strongest chance of building a career in rock music. After establishing himself in Boston’s active club circuit, he joined forces with singer Eric Sean Murphy, drummer Lex Lianos, and bassist Ira Nulton to launch the Cliffs of Dooneen in 1991. Though the group borrowed its title from a Celtic folk song, the alternative pop/rock approach they developed displayed scant Irish character. Their opening single, “Through an Open Window,” secured rotation on MTV and reached Billboard’s Modern Rock Top Ten, while the band itself became a dominant local act, collecting several Boston Music Awards. Despite that early momentum, the two albums that followed—The Dog Went East & God Went West and Undertow—produced no further significant chart entries. In 1999 a catastrophic accident ended Flynn’s tenure with the band, after he fell thirty-five feet from a ladder at his Boston home and came perilously close to permanent paralysis. Ten hours of surgery and two arduous years of rehabilitation were required before he could resume performing. Flynn marked his return with the solo album On Your Way, released in 2001, which earned him an additional Boston Music Award for Outstanding Debut on an Independent Label.