Damien Dempsey (born 1975 in Donaghmede, Dublin) is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social commentary on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland’s Celtic Tiger society. He sings in English, and to a lesser extent in Irish.

Dempsey’s earliest musical influences were the post-pub singsongs that his parents used to have at their home when he was a toddler. Good, bad or indifferent, everyone had to sing.