CelticWomanForum.com

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be a good idea if we put our vast knowledge together and came up with a Member Timeline for each of our beloved leading ladies and when they were with the group.

I know most of the information is documented out there, but right now, it's all over the place, buried deep within forum threads, wikipedia, and thousands of articles scattered across the Internet.

My end goal would be to have a simple, pretty chart, like the member timeline that exists on the Celtic Thunder wikipedia page:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/00ef21bba2de38f4170252d07661bbde.png)


My plan was to assemble sort of a written timeline / summary for each Celtic Woman member, then once everything is together, make a pretty chart. Maybe have a small profile pic or something of each leading lady next to their row on the timeline.

For purposes of a chart, I think accuracy to the month would be sufficient, although I'm a perfectionist and tend to like details, so I'll probably not be satisfied until I track down all the specific dates.

I'm hoping to get started on this project over the next couple of days depending on how things at work goes, but I'll let the rest of you have at it in the meantime.  ;D

Some quick notes before getting started:

• One of my references is Wikipedia.
• Here's one issue I've run into (and ran into before when editing Wikipedia): for references that point back to the CW website, like notices for new and departing members, aren't dated on the CW site (at least they don't appear to be now).
• The challenge is that it makes it difficult to prove the date if the citation hounds at Wikipedia come calling.
• So during this project, I'm also hoping to track down some other sources to back up the dates.
• That creates a further difficulty, since some of the "other sources" may have retrieved their info from wikipedia, since a lot of the time, other articles or wikis won't properly source their info. Even worse, some of the other sites are full or partial mirrors of wikipedia articles, making them cyclical sources. Sigh...
• I can't tell you how many arguments I've had with the citation hounds at Wikipedia. I honestly had to stop updating stuff because it was too much work to dig up citations they were happy with. But I digress...
• If you notice any potential mistakes, please point them out and if you have a source to back it up, even better! I'm thinking the Facebook page might have dates that can be referenced. It's just a pain to search Facebook, sometimes.

Another thing that may need discussion is what the criteria are for start / end dates?

• The date it was announced?
• The day a person first / last performed on tour or recorded a special?
• Some other "official" start date that was documented.

Now that I'm done rambling, here we go, starting with the current ladies...


Máiréad Nesbitt
September 15, 2004 - Aug 7, 2016

Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/maireadnesbittcelticviolinist/posts/1757393424539932:0
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10154398051527838:0


Éabha McMahon
Aug 11, 2015 - Present

She took over for Lisa Lambe.

Officially announced August 11:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10153523201587838:0
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=20597.0

Some sources state or imply she joined in July (I'm pretty sure she auditioned in July, but as for when she joined...)
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-04-20/irish-heritage-comes-alive-voices-celtic-women
http://irishecho.com/2016/04/celtic-woman-lets-eabha-be-herself/
http://registerguard.com/rg/entertainment/34342101-67/celtic-woman-serves-as-ambassador-for-ireland-musically.html.csp

I'll go with August 11, 2015 as her official start date.


Mairéad Carlin
August 23, 2013 - Present

... It was reported on August 23, 2013, in any event (per Wikipedia and Celtic Woman Tour on Facebook).

She took over for Chloë.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ir%C3%A9ad_Carlin
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10151815603017838


Susan McFadden
January, 2012 - Present
Reported: January 5, 2012  (per Wikipedia and Celtic Woman Tour on Facebook)

She took over for Lisa Kelly.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_McFadden
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10150512607587838

I think that's a good idea, Tom! :)

As for Celtic Thunder, Ryan Kelly is my favorite and I liked to point out that he is the only member who has been there since the beginning! ;D

Yep, just like Mairead Nesbitt. The anchors, if you will.

Although Mairead's a bit more mobile. Lol.

Neil was part of the CT band since the very beginning (August 2007) but was promoted to full member in time to record a few songs for their 2010 album "It's entertainment" Paul left November 28, 2010 and Damien left to enter the Glee project and officially announced is departure August 21, 2011. Emmett Cahill announced is departure on January 13, 2014 and rejoined the next tour, following Georges death on April 3 2014. On April 5 it was unofficially announced that Emmett o'Hanlon would be replacing Emmett Cahill. Damien was present for the 2015 very best of Celtic Thunder tour and the 2016 Australian tour. Keith Harkin announced his departure on April 26, 2016 and I guess he finished the Australian tour before leaving. Colm joined in 2012 and I think he announced his departure prior to the Australian tour but is set to return in 2017.

Deirdre Shannon

July 20, 2005 - February 2006

She filled in for Méav during tours in 2005 while Méav was on pregnany leave. The original tour was a short one (July 20 - Oct 22, 2005 it appears). So connecting the dots, that's how I arrived at the estimate of July 20 as her start date. Deirdre left in 2006 when Méav returned.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman  ("Méav returned to the group in time to record A New Journey and tour for that album, coinciding with Deirdre's departure from the group in February 2006.")
http://www.dararecords.com/imn/celtic_woman_tour2005.html   (Tour dates, original US tour, 2005)

As always, if you notice anything that needs to be added or tweaked, let me know.

Hayley Westenra

August 24, 2006 - June 2007

Alternated with Méav on Tour:
   Méav: Feb 14 - March 8, 2007
   Hayley: Mar 9 - Apr 5, 2007
   Méav: Apr 11 - May 3, 2007
   Hayley: May 4 - end of June, 2007   (end of the spring leg of the ANJ tour was June 29, 2007)

I think for the purposes of the member timeline chart, the line for the period of alternation (Feb 14 - June 2007) should be in a striped color just to differentiate it from normal tour involvement. It wasn't an interruption in membership as far as I'm concerned, just a period of odd scheduling.

I'm not sure what Hayley's official end date was, so if anyone has that info, please let me know. I believe that tour ended in June, so I assume her contract would have ended following the last show on that tour.

Sources:

Start date (Aug 24, 2006):
http://web.archive.org/web/20070223143839/http://www.celticwoman.com/viewSection.asp?idSection=211

Alternating tour dates for ANJ tour in 2007:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070223143932/http://www.celticwoman.com/viewSection.asp?idSection=218

Re: Spring Tour dates for ANJ in 2007 (specifically the last date of the tour), it was tough to find. I looked for hours in many places until finally I found this REALLY cool map with the dates (and all the locations on a map):
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=36.879621%2C-96.855469&spn=35.639576%2C59.765625&hl=en&z=4&msa=0&ie=UTF8&om=1&mid=1B3KyddqIi_yxKOM48_EW3G_EEbw

Other sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayley_Westenra



Órla Fallon

September 15, 2004 - Dec 9, 2008

Alex Sharpe took over for her.

Wikipedia says she left in 2009, but a number of other sources indicated she left in December 2008 (after "A Christmas Celebration"). Given that one of the articles about her leaving was dated December 10th, I'm inclined to believe that December 9, 2008 date that was posted on this forum is correct.

Sources:

Orla's departure (Dec 9, 2008):
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=9345.45    (indicates Dec 9, 2008 was the date)
http://lovetrouble06.blogspot.ca/2008/12/orla-fallon-leaves-celtic-woman.html    (posted Dec 10, 2008)
http://www.orlasgarden.com/biography.html   (indicates she left "at the end of 2008)
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/OrlaFallon1    (indicates she left in December 2008, but doesn't specify an exact date)
http://orlafallon.com/?page_id=9    (indicates she left in December 2008, but doesn't specify an exact date)

Don't forget Chloë Agnew. She's my VBIF as I get carried away by a spark of feelings.

I won't forget, I promise.  ;D

Chloë Agnew

September 15, 2004 - August 5, 2013

Mairead Carlin took over for her.

Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10151776948092838
http://www.celticwoman.com/chloe-statement/
http://lisakellyforum.net/index.php?topic=971.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlo%C3%AB_Agnew
http://euler.math.uga.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Celtic_Woman


Lynn Hilary

Aug 17, 2007 - Nov. 12, 2010  (I think Lynn started touring at the start of the ANJ on Oct 10, 2007, but she was announced as a new member on August 17, 2007)
Feb 14, 2014 - June 8, 2014 (Emerald, in place of Lisa Lambe, announced Feb 14, 2014, but her first date back on tour was March 16, 2014)
Sept 3-7, 2014 (Emerald tour in Brazil)
Apr 8, 2015 - May 23, 2015 (10th Anniversary Tour)

Lynn originally took over for Méav.

Piecing the dates together for Lynn has been quite challenging. Did I miss anything?

Sources:
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=1470.0   (announced as new member, Aug 17, 2007)
http://www.celticwomanfansiteforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1589&sid=7532add83f77ab909b7a5492504a5a6d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hilary  (Lynn's first tour with CW was the ANJ tour, which started on Oct 10, 2007)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
http://www.celticwoman.com/lynns-message/

End of Lynn's first stint (at least when it was announced) was Nov 12, 2010:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/169640543064007
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=14676.0
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.0

2014 Emerald Tour:
https://www.facebook.com/CelticWomanFanPage/posts/10202210562239029   (notice that Lynn was back to replace Lisa in March for rest of Emerald tour)
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152294199812838:0  (Lynn's first date back on tour, March 16, 2016)
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152480850692838:0   (end of spring leg of Emerald Tour, June 8, 2014)
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152878187617838:0   (end of Emerald tour, Nov 28, 2014)
http://celticwoman.com/emerald-world-tour-heads-brazil/

10th Anniversary Tour:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10153423288177838:0   (source for date of last show of original 10th anniversary tour leg)
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10153320289292838:0   (source for date of Lynn's last show of 10th anniversary tour)
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10153167574377838:0  (tour lineups for 10th anniversary tour)

Lynn went to Brazil with CW in September 2014 and left after that and Lisa L did the Christmas tour that year

Good catch!

It was so brief I almost forgot about that.

It was just September 3-7, 2014 during the Emerald tour, right?

Source:
http://celticwoman.com/emerald-world-tour-heads-brazil/

Damo is back now

Here's what I've got so far for Alex...

Alex Sharpe

Dec 2007 - May 26, 2010
May 3, 2015 - June 28, 2015

Originally substituted for Lisa Kelly while Lisa was on maternity leave (2008).
Then stepped in for Orla full time in 2009.

Note: I'm not certain if there was any official gap for Alex between when she was substituting for Lisa and when she took over full-time for Orla.

Left May 2010 (after the 1st leg of the Songs from the Heart tour).

Returned May 3, 2015 - June 28, 2015  (10th Anniversary Tour)

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Sharpe
http://web.archive.org/web/20100529154543/http://www.celticwoman.com/trellis/alex_message

End of Alex's first stint announced May 26, 2010:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/103076549740779
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.0

10th Anniversary Tour:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904881029532876&id=212618112092508

Méav

Sept 15, 2004 - July 19, 2005
Aug 23, 2006 - Aug 17, 2007
       During the 2007 ANJ tour, Méav was featured Apr 11 - May 3
Lynn took over for Meav.
Aug, 2012: "Home for Christmas" (album only)    (Thanks Tiffany :))
Aug 7, 2013: "Home for Christmas" (special/DVD only)
Mar 6, 2015 - Apr 4, 2015 (10th Anniversary Tour, in place of Lynn)
Aug 2015: "Destiny" (album / special / DVD)

Notes about the dates used:

• 2005 - 2006, Méav was on mat leave (Deirdre filled in). If anyone has the date Deirdre officially took over for Méav in 2005, please let me know. *** For now, I used the day before Deirdre's start date (Deirdre started on July 20, 2005, based on that being the first date of the first US tour).
  
• I based Méav's return date in 2006 on when the ANJ special was recorded. If someone has a more accurate date, please let me know.
• In 2007, following the filming of Celtic Woman's Christmas DVD at the Helix, Dublin, Méav left Celtic Woman to concentrate on her solo career.
• Méav later featured as a guest soloist on the CW Christmas album Home for Christmas (the first time Méav had appeared with CW since she left the group in 2007).
• Méav was also featured on the subsequent CW PBS special, "Home for Christmas", which was recorded on 7 August 2013.
• I based Méav's start date for the 10th Anniversary Tour as March 6 based on her Wikipedia page. If anyone has further supporting evidence, that would be great.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9av_N%C3%AD_Mhaolchatha


First Stint:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman:_A_New_Journey (ANJ recorded Aug 23/24, 2006)

http://web.archive.org/web/20070223143932/http://www.celticwoman.com/viewSection.asp?idSection=218 (ANJ tour rotation for 2007)
   Meav: Feb 14 - March 8
   Hayley: Mar 9 - Apr 5
   Meav: Apr 11 - May 3
   Hayley: May 4 - June 29  (end of ANJ tour)

Meav's departure in 2007 (Aug 17):
http://www.celticwomanfansiteforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1589&sid=7532add83f77ab909b7a5492504a5a6d
http://www.celticwomanfansiteforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1596&sid=e6d81a9d77786ba85a28d587339e31a9
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=9345.45  (Aug 17, 2007)

Home for Christmas album recorded in August, 2012:
https://www.facebook.com/CelticWomanFanPage/posts/487139037964851

Home for Christmas DVD was filmed / Recorded on August 7, 2013:
http://www.meav.com/meav-guests-with-celtic-woman/
... On the timeline, I'll probably just mark Meav as active for all of August 2013 (since one day doesn't show up well on an almost-12-year timeline).

10th Anniversary Tour:

https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10153167574377838:0  (10th anniversary tour lineups)
   "Now" (posted March 19, 2015) through April 4th: Mairead Nesbitt, Mairead Carlin, Méav
   April 8th - May 2nd: Mairead Nesbitt, Susan, Mairead Carlin, Lynn
   May 3rd - May 22nd: Mairead Nesbitt, Susan, Lynn, Alex    (Alex subbed for Mairead Carlin)
   May 27th - June 28th: Mairead Nesbitt, Susan, Mairead Carlin, Alex    (Alex subbed for Lynn)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9av_N%C3%AD_Mhaolchatha
   Indicates Meav's start date for CW 10th Anniversary tour was March 6

Destiny:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman:_Destiny

Two more to go... ;D

How am I doing so far?

Good and you forgot something meav was on the destiny cd and dvd

<Blushes>

Yes. Yes, I did. That's rather embarrassing.  :-[

Thank you for reminding me though.

You welcome

Lynn opened the 10th Anniversary Tour in January did the European portion.

Alex took spot for Mairead C in May (exact dates need to check)
Alex took spot for Lynn in June (exact dates >)
 :)

I saw a Youtube clip of Amazing Grace from The Emerald Tour in UK it had Lisa L in November,
so did Lisa L do more touring in the UK instead of Lynn in Nov 2014?

Lisa Lambe

Nov. 29, 2010 - 2014

• Lynn substituted for her from April - September 7, 2014
• Lisa Returned from November 23, 2014 - until the end of the year

Additional Notes:

• In November 2010, Lynn Hilary announced she was leaving.
• Feb 14, 2014: Announced that Lynn would be replacing Lisa Lambe while she was on LOA.
• Lisa Lambe continued to perform on the Emerald Tour in February - March, 2014.  ... Thanks Tiffany :)
• Wikipedia indicates that Lisa Lambe returned for two tours in the fall and winter of 2014. I'm not sure that she returned for the fall tour. Can anyone confirm?

Sources:

She was announced as a new member on November 29, 2010:
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.15
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=14847.0
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/168620016504203
http://alcan1.blogspot.ca/2010/11/celtic-woman-ltd-announces-newest.html


Emerald (Brazil Tour):
It looks like Lisa Lambe was still away (Lynn still performing with CW) for the Brazil tour: Sept 3-7, 2014.


European Tour:

The next time Lisa Lambe appeared on tour was November 23, 2014 for their first show in the UK, at the start of the European tour that year:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152868018762838:0


Departure:

Lisa announced she would be focusing on solo work on Jan 1, 2015:
https://www.facebook.com/CelticWomanFanPage/posts/956943790984371


Other Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Lambe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hilary

I think you two are correct.

Of course I insisted on going about corroborating that the hard way...

Wikipedia says she returned for 2 tours in fall and winter of 2014.

Lisa Lambe seems to have returned on tour on November 23, 2014 for their first show the UK (although she was obviously in rehearsals for a little while before that).

I haven't found an official announcement about her return or Lynn's departure following the previous tour yet (haven't finished crawling through the forum either for a date).

If there wasn't a tour between the Brazil tour and European tour that year, then I'd say Lynn was there that year until September 7, 2014, when the Brazil leg of the Emerald tour ended.

Here's the puzzle pieces I assembled:

On August 1, 2014, Celtic Woman Tour wished Lisa Lambe a happy birthday and they'd have belated celebrations on the tour in Europe:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152602683022838:0

It looks like Lynn was still a part of the Brazil tour (Sept 3-7, 2014) and the rehearsal that led up to it:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/photos/a.10151938885432838.1073741825.117800522837/10152642377672838/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/photos/a.164250352837.120996.117800522837/10152665319627838/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152666936112838:0
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcelticwoman%2Fposts%2F10152685331007838%3A0

After that, there were still posts about when Lisa Lambe was coming back...

... until this picture of rehearsal on November 22 in the UK showed Lisa instead of Lynn:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152865407117838:0

The first show of that UK leg of the European tour was Nov 23, 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/10152868018762838:0

Last but not least...

Lisa Kelly

Member: Sept 15, 2004 - Jan, 2013
Active:

• Sept 15, 2004 - Dec 2007
• Feb 13, 2009 - Dec 2011

During the A New Journey tour, and again during the "Believe" 2012 tour, Lisa took a break for the birth of her children.

• In 2008, she was replaced by Alex Sharpe who later became a full-time member of Celtic Woman when Orla Fallon left.
• Lisa was back in 2009 for the Isle of Hope tour. I based her 2009 return date on the first date of the IoH tour (Feb 13, 2009).
• In Dec 2011, Lisa announced taking maternity leave and would not be participating in the 2012 Believe Tour (replaced by Susan McFadden)
• Jan 5, 2012,  it was announced that Susan would be replacing her on the Believe Tour (Susan debuted with Celtic Woman in February at Nashville, Tennessee for the kickoff of the "Believe" North American Tour and continued with the remaining tours in 2012.)

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Kelly
http://www.starpulse.com/the-enchanting-princesses-of-song-celtic-woman-announce-2009-tour-1847879622.html

I've had a bit of a tough time finding some of the exact dates for Lisa Kelly. I think I'm accurate to the month, but it would be awesome if someone can find the actual dates when announcements were made or membership transitions took effect.

I also had a bit of trouble finding some verifiable sources so far (ie. not just Wikipedia), so I'd appreciate any additional proof of the dates listed.

What's Next?

• Now that the start / end dates have more or less been documented in this thread, the next step will be for you folks to audit the dates I have and make sure I haven't missed anything significant.
  
• Once we're happy with the documented dates, it will be time to start making a chart.

I'm by no means a graphic artist (I'm quite horrible, actually), but I'll try to do a simple one over the next week or two in a style similar to the CT one.

I'm going to deviate from the style of the CT graph a tiny bit by using a "slashed" line (instead of solid color) for times when a performer was still technically a member, but not actively touring at a time when the rest of the group was.

The goal will be to (hopefully) post it on the CW Wikipedia page.

BTW, I won't be offended if someone with actual artistic skills (unlike me) feels like doing a chart. I can almost guarantee you it'll look prettier than what I produce.

;)

Any suggestions / corrections, please let me know.

Thanks!

Awesome timeline!!!

BTW Lisa Lambe still performed on the Emerald Tour in 2014 from Feb to March, and the HFC Album was recorded in 2012.

Thanks Tiffany!

I updated the relevant posts.  :)

I like your idea, Tom.

Could you also do a timeline for the band and choir members?

Sure, I like that idea!

It might be tricky to find detailed information on some of them, but I'm confident in the vast pool of knowledge (and Googling skills) we have here on the forum.

I'm brainstorming on how to do this timeline graph at the moment.

I've seen a number of these on various band pages on Wikipedia, but I'm not yet sure how those particular ones were done.

1. I could put one together manually in a graphical editor like GIMP
(It can be done, but will take a bit of planning.
If I ever have to re-size or lengthen it down the road, it might be challenging. Not sure yet.)

2. I could try using Excel
(it seems this wouldn't be too difficult if each member had only one start and end date, but as we know that's not the case for several members of Celtic Woman).

Has anyone done one of these before or have an idea of:
* How the other band member timelines on Wikipedia were done?
* Other suggestions for how I could build something that will be relatively easy to update / resize later?

Thanks.  :)

I looked at the source for some of the Wikipedia pages for other bands (ie. CT's wikipedia page).

It looks like their timelines were done in Wiki Markup.

Doesn't seem to be the most intuitive thing in the world, but I did programming and a tiny bit of web development back in the day, so I'll figure it out.

... although I'll also have to figure out how to create a sandbox to experiment with this. I don't really feel like messing around on the actual CW page until I have a clue what I'm doing with this. Lol.

Ok everyone!

Here's the first draft of the CW lead performer timeline!

Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect yet or if some of the dates are wrong, this is just a proof of concept for now.

Any suggestions / feedback, please let me know.

I've tweaked a few of the dates (ie. 1-2 day PBS special recordings) to be more like the whole month. I found that the bars were difficult to see for very short time frames.

In cases when I knew the month a performer started / ended but I wasn't sure of exact dates, I generally guessed: first date of month for start dates ... end of the month for end dates).

It's uploaded to a temporary site that time bombs (removes the image) after 7 days. That's to avoid confusion with old versions once I tweak it more.

Here's the first draft:
http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=24e662d

Very nice timeline, Tom! :)

Thanks!

There's just a few more things I'm trying to narrow down at this point:

• Lisa Lambe's debut date in 2010 ... completed :)
• Meav's end date in 2007 ... completed :'(
• Date(s) Home for Christmas album was recorded in 2012 ... relevant to Meav's timeline...completed :)
• When Lynn left in 2010 ... completed :'(
• When Alex left in 2010 ... completed :'(
• When exactly Deirdre was a member of Celtic Woman in 2005 until Meav returned in 2006. ???  Based on tour dates, July-Oct 2005 (then Meav returned in February, 2016). But there are some conflicting sources and no concrete information I've found.

Here's a new version of the timeline with what I have so far. I made it a bit wider horizontally to make some of the shorter appearances stand out more. I also re-ordered it as follows:

• First, the current girls, in their join order.
• Then, the former girls, in their join order.

New temporary link (expires after 7 days):
http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=0c6c96e

I think if we can narrow down the above dates a bit and if everyone's reasonably satisfied with the way it looks, it'll be Wikipedia-ready.

Then we can all cross our fingers they don't challenge some of my sources. Lol.

I Love It! Seeing the girl's timespan is cool! ;D

I was looking up Lisa Lambe's start date and the first place I found the date was in a "On this day in Celtic Woman history..." post from the Celtic Woman forum by "Enchanted" (from December 5, 2010):

http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.15

Lisa Lambe was officially announced as a member of Celtic Woman on November 29, 2010.

Once I had a specific date to search by, it was fairly easy to cross-reference it with a number of other sources.

It also indirectly led me to discover some fancy new tricks for searching old posts on Facebook.

;)

"Enchanted" actually started the "On this day in Celtic Woman history" post on January 26, 2010:
I thought it might be fun and informative to have a topic where people can post bits of the history of Celtic Woman.  This will be both educational for the new fan and a trip down memory lane for those who have watched it all unfold from the beginning.

Well, here we are around 6 and a half years later. Celtic Woman is still awesome, that post is still educational, and I'm really thankful for the bits of history documented in that old thread.

Maybe one day 5-10 years down the road, someone will come back and visit this Member Timeline thread will find this information useful too.

:D

A couple of tweaks to the aforementioned dates so far. I have made the corrections in line and in my copy of the timeline markup code already. I present them here as well to log the changes and my reasoning.

Lynn (corrections):

Previous start date (initial stint):   Oct 10, 2007
New start date (initial stint):   Aug 17, 2007

Lynn's end for her first stint was Nov 12, 2010:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/169640543064007
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=14676.0
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.0


I referenced her start date from one of our forum posts on August 17, 2007:
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=1470.0

Source for ANJ tour start date, Oct 10, 2007:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hilary


Alex (corrections):

End of Alex's first stint announced May 26, 2010:
https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman/posts/103076549740779
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11653.0


Deirdre: *** NEW UPDATE

The following site shows Deirdre as active from June - October 2005:
http://cw-ct.com/cw/deirdre.html

... Deirdre might have been announced in June 2005?  So far I haven't found anything to prove or disprove it. For now, I'll continue to base her membership on what I believe to be the tour dates: July 20- Oct 22, 2005, with Meav returning in February of the next year. I don't think there was additional touring in 2005 after the original tour ended, so October 2005 would be a valid end date, but my rationale is this: if there had been more touring that year, Deirdre would have been doing it, so until Meav returned, I consider Deirdre still a member (unless something is found to the contrary). Not sure what her actual contract period was.


Eabha (correction): *** NEW UPDATE

Previously, I had been using July as Eabha's start date as there were a number of sources that stated or implied it. I know she auditioned for CW around July 2015 shortly after her NYC show. However, Celtic Woman Tour's post on Facebook (and the corresponding post on the CW Forum) suggest that August 11, 2015 was her official start date (it was at least when she was officially announced). I have corrected the previous post and the timeline to reflect that.


Meav (corrections):

Previous end date in 2007:  Aug 20
New end date in 2007:  Aug 17

I sourced her departure date using the forum and a few Facebook posts from the same day, which likely were in response to the forum post:
http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=1495.0

Notes:
- Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman) says Méav left on Aug 20, 2007 (as do a number of other sources that likely got their info from wikipedia).
- I'm not sure if August 20th was the date her departure was "officially" announced, if it was the effective date, or if it just happened to be the date it was actually posted on the CW site.
- Wikipedia cites the post from the CW site, which is no longer available, as well as the archived version of that post, which is also no longer available.
- I believe August 17th, 2007 is the first date her departure became known to the devoted fan base.

The is a bit long-winded, but I think it's important.

Dilema:

- The inconsistencies with some of the dates leaves me in a bit of a quandary.

- I'll use the end of Meav's original stint as an example...

- I intend to use Aug 17, 2007 as the end date (for that stint) in the timeline, since it's the most likely to be correct as far as I'm concerned.
- That will disagree with referenced Wikipedia info, and can thus be disputed as an inconsistency.
- I could go in and edit the CW Wikipedia pag.
- But aside from some forum and Facebook posts on August 17, 2007 which I trust, I haven't found anything that could be considered a valid reference to prove either date.
- Even if Meav herself said she initially left on Aug 17, 2007, the folks at Wikipedia insist that there be verifiable, independent sources and they have shot down far lesser changes of mine in the past on those grounds.

- I could change the date on Wikipedia anyways.
- But that would make most other sources (which likely referenced Wikipedia), to be inconsistent with the Wikipedia article.
- Someone might dispute the info on Wikipedia on those grounds, not realizing that Wikipedia was the source for those other articles.
- There's also danger the change or the whole page could get flagged due to lack of proper / sufficient citations.
- At this point, there aren't any significant consequences to the article getting flagged (other than it will frustrate me).
- It's unlikely, but possible that Wikipedia could prune flagged articles in the future. That would be bad for flagged articles (they would get removed).
- Indirectly, it draws attention of the Wikipedia folks to the CW Wikipedia pages and if they audit it, they're going to find a LOT of inconsistencies on there, beyond timeline-related ones.

They have a number of automated tools that search Wikipedia articles for inconsistencies, but in my opinion, it would be unreasonably difficult to design a tool to audit timeline dates based on other (untagged) dates in the article. They would have to audit it manually or not at all.

I'd appreciate any of your thoughts on this (but I'd especially appreciate any additional verifiable sources I can use to ward off the Wikipedia hounds).

Thanks.

Home for Christmas (album, 2012):

Finding the recording date(s) for the Home for Christmas album in 2012 has proven extremely difficult so far.

It was fairly easy to find the release date for the album (and the record date for the 2013 Home for Christmas DVD), but the date / month the album was recorded (which is relevant for Meav's timeline)...

Here are some places I looked:

• CW site
• CW forum: "Home for Christmas" section, Meav section, etc...
• http://cw-ct.com/
• Google: ... checked a LOT of sites, including Discogs
• Facebook: Celtic Woman Tour, Meav, Lisa Lambe, Chloe, Mairead Nesbitt ... filtered for any posts in 2012 with the word "Christmas" posted by any of those accounts
• Meav site: http://www.meav.com/contact/
• Meav forum: Can't search it without an account :(

I searched a bunch of other places, then finally found something of interest on Facebook under the "Celtic Woman Fan Page" account:

https://www.facebook.com/CelticWomanFanPage/posts/487139037964851
(post from August 11, 2012):

• The recording did take place in August, 2012, as I had assumed.
• It is implied, but not stated, that there were multiple days involved in the recording.

I'll go with all of August 2012 as part of Meav's membership.


At this point, I have all the dates to a margin of accuracy / error with which I am reasonably satisfied, but I'm going to go back and double-check a few of the dates using some of the new sources / methods I discovered along the way. I expect that to be done by the end of the weekend and will hopefully have a final draft of the timeline posted by then (before I deploy it live on the CW Wikipedia page).

I'm not sure when the CD was recorded, but the PBS special was recorded August of 2013

Ok everyone,

Behold the final draft of the timeline for principal Celtic Woman performers:

I have no doubt this isn't perfect, so if you notice anything that needs to be corrected or doesn't look right, please let me know.

UPDATED for the new member, Tara:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/462849a66ee7d9d06c28fd1e74078c2e.png)


There are some weird-looking gaps in the timelines for temporary absences (ie. still a member, but not active due to maternity leave or other commitments). I don't think it would be too difficult to fill them in with a different color or shade. I'm not sure if it would make it look better / worse / more confusing etc. If there's enough interest, I can experiment with it, though.


I'm providing the Wiki-Markup (below) for a couple of reasons:

• To document the dates I used, in case there are any questions or things that need to be corrected in the future.
• For maintainability ... I'd prefer that more than one person be familiar with how this was constructed. It's fairly easy to make corrections if you know how it works.

Code for current version of the timeline (updated to reflect Tara and Mairead Nesbitt stepping away:

===Member Timeline===
===Member Timeline===
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1300 height:auto barincrement:25
PlotArea = left:125 bottom:80 top:0 right:100
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/2004 till:31/12/2016
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =
  id:Susan              value:orange
  id:MaireadC           value:blue
  id:Eabha              value:green
  id:Tara              value:red
  id:MaireadN           value:gray(0.5)
  id:Chloe              value:gray(0.5)
  id:Orla               value:gray(0.5)
  id:Lynn               value:gray(0.5)
  id:LisaK              value:gray(0.5)
  id:LisaL              value:gray(0.5)
  id:Deirdre      value:gray(0.5)
  id:Alex      value:gray(0.5)
  id:Hayley              value:gray(0.5)
  id:Meav              value:gray(0.5)
  id:bars               value:gray(0.9)

BackgroundColors =  bars:bars
ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2004
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2004

BarData =
  bar:Susan         text:"Susan McFadden"
  bar:MaireadC           text:"Mairéad Carlin"
  bar:Eabha             text:"Éabha McMahon"
  bar:Tara      text:"Tara McNeill"
  bar:MaireadN            text:"Máiréad Nesbitt"
  bar:Chloe         text:"Chloë Agnew"
  bar:LisaK        text:"Lisa Kelly"
  bar:Meav          text:"Méav Ní Mhaolchatha"
  bar:Orla         text:"Órla Fallon"
  bar:Deirdre         text:"Deirdre Shannon"
  bar:Hayley          text:"Hayley Westenra"
  bar:Lynn           text:"Lynn Hilary"
  bar:Alex          text:"Alex Sharpe"
  bar:LisaL        text:"Lisa Lambe"


PlotData=

  width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)

  bar:Susan         from:05/01/2012 till:end              color:Susan
  bar:MaireadC          from:23/08/2013 till:end          color:MaireadC
  bar:Eabha          from:11/08/2015 till:end              color:Eabha
  bar:Tara      from:07/08/2016 till:end      color:Tara
  bar:MaireadN     from:15/09/2004 till:07/08/2016         color:MaireadN
  bar:Chloe          from:15/09/2004 till:05/08/2013      color:Chloe
  bar:Orla          from:15/09/2004 till:09/12/2008      color:Orla
  bar:Lynn         from:17/08/2007 till:12/11/2010      color:Lynn
  bar:Lynn         from:01/03/2014 till:08/06/2014      color:Lynn
  bar:Lynn         from:03/09/2014 till:07/09/2014      color:Lynn
  bar:Lynn         from:08/04/2015 till:23/05/2015      color:Lynn
  bar:LisaK          from:15/09/2004 till:31/12/2007      color:LisaK
  bar:LisaK          from:13/02/2009 till:31/12/2011      color:LisaK
  bar:LisaL           from:01/01/2011 till:01/04/2014      color:LisaL
  bar:LisaL           from:23/11/2014 till:31/12/2014      color:LisaL
  bar:Alex           from:01/12/2007 till:26/05/2010      color:Alex
  bar:Alex           from:03/05/2015 till:28/06/2015         color:Alex
  bar:Deirdre            from:20/07/2005 till:28/02/2006      color:Deirdre
  bar:Hayley         from:24/08/2006 till:13/02/2007      color:Hayley
  bar:Hayley         from:09/03/2007 till:05/04/2007      color:Hayley
  bar:Hayley         from:04/05/2007 till:31/07/2007      color:Hayley
  bar:Meav         from:15/09/2004 till:19/07/2005      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:23/08/2006 till:08/03/2007      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:11/04/2007 till:03/05/2007      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:29/06/2007 till:17/08/2007      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:15/01/2012 till:31/08/2012      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:01/08/2013 till:31/08/2013      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:06/03/2015 till:04/04/2015      color:Meav
  bar:Meav         from:01/08/2015 till:15/08/2015      color:Meav
</timeline>




Next Steps

• Give the dates and the graph a look over
• Let me know if you have any corrections to report or any other feedback. I'd love to make it better.
• I'm planning to stick this on the CW wikipedia page at the bottom of the Membership section on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the amount / nature of feedback by then. Once it's posted it's fairly easy for me or anyone else to edit it again there if needed.

Enjoy!

I think we've passed 2015.

Kim, the chart is too wide to fit the screen so you need to press your right arrow key to slide it to the left. ;)

Haha.

Yes, I forgot to mention that.

I can make the chart less wide if that helps too.

 :)

The time has finally arrived.

The timeline is LIVE on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman#Member_Timeline

 The  chart  is  pretty cool,  though.   :)   And  I think  we  appreciate  the  time  you put  into  this  too  Tom.  Thank  you.    ;)

You're welcome James  :D


I'm planning to do choir members next, although that's going to be even more challenging (less information available and I'm a bit less knowledgeable ... about some of them, anyways).

But before I start that, I've decided to correct a few of the dates in the CW and member wikipedia pages. Just the ones for which I have an official CW Tour post or a lot of supporting evidence.

good job! I really love the timeline! I tried something similar some month ago, just to keep track of who filled in for whom...

(http://www.cw-ct.com/timeline.png)

Gonna compare it to your well reaserched dates and then update it to match the correct dates.

I Like the (two) but this one we can really see it clearer, I mean easier way to show people how the member's were part of the group.
I guess one can be professional (1st) and this one as a timeline. :) Love IT!!! thanks`

Hang on. Did Méav join Celtic Woman for their Destiny concert on the DVD I currently have? You can put it in the late 2015 zone.

You are correct Kim.

I did the same thing originally when I did mine.

Everyone keeps forgetting poor Meav on Destiny.

Thanks for noticing, Kim.  :)

Hey everyone :)
Who joined the Japan tour in late 2006?
I need this information to complete my line up history: http://www.cw-ct.com/cw-tour/tour.html#2007

I didn't expect to be making a major change to the timeline so soon, but I guess I probably should have.

Mairead Nesbitt:
Active Sept 15, 2004  to Aug 7, 2016

Tara McNeill:
Active Aug 7, 2016 - ...

I updated the member timeline as well as some of the text on the CW / Mairead Nesbitt Wikipedia pages to reflect the changes.

thank you for updating CW wikipedia  :) good job!

I would guess Meav and the rest (Chloe, Lisa K, Orla, and Mairead N) ; not Hayley.
Meav was present at the performances for Japan. Lynn and Alex did 2007 & 2008.

Just a reference to let you in, for your website
Lynn profile image does not say 2014 she did more than Alex.
Orla has -2009, than 2008.

Alex has featured in Silent Night. I was so curious about that, ecstatic but when I clicked it didn't mention her I should know
my Alex did not accommodate in to many of CW's albums . Unless you mis- mentioned Alex's solo of Silent Night separate from CW.

I just wanted you to see that. :D Love the Update changes so quick on Tara added into and replacing Mairead N in the cover!!'

oh, thanks a lot for those corrections, I just forgot to update the years there as well  :)

also thank you so much for your kind words on the updated banner :)

..and on letting me know about the line up in Japan 2006.

Yes! Love the banner!

I don't know if you have this for sure or not, but I thought that I'd bring up part of this. It said that some sources say that Orla left after A Christmas Celebration, but she didn't leave then. I know that Meav left after A Christmas Celebration and Orla was still on the rest of A New Journey's tour. Before Isle of Hope is when Orla left.

ACC was filmed in July 2007.  Orla was touring in 2008 with Alex filling in for Lisa Kelly as she took time off to have Ellie. 
Orla left before IOH and Alex took her place as Lisa returned in 2009. ;)

Is there a reason that the whole thing isn't color coded? You'd think that would work if it could.

The colors of the bars can be modified.

I think the gray bars are for inactive members. I didn't do the CT timeline, but I modelled the CW timeline after it, including the convention of using gray bars for previous members.

The color choices themselves in the CW timeline were pretty much arbitrary.

Does that help answer your question?

Updated the member timeline on Wikipedia to reflect Alex's brief return to fill in for Susan for a few weeks this month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Woman#Membership