Roisin White was born near Kilkeel in Co. Down and remembers her mother singing all kinds of songs around the house which gave her a life-long interest in songs. Learning the Irish language at school, she became interested in the literature and poetry of her country, realising that many of the poems were in fact songs. In 1974 she went to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran islands to improve her Irish. There she became aware of their traditional singing or, as she perceived it then, natural singing. Roisin sings a eclectic mix of songs which have been passed onto her by the likes of Joe Holmes, Eddie Butcher, Paddy Tunney, Bridget Tunney and Robert Cinnamond.

       Róisín White’s first and highly acclaimed album was ‘The First of my Rambles’ which was released on the Veteran Label on cassette in 1992 and then on CD in 2000. During the intervening years she has been kept busy with a full time teaching job in Armagh, but has always had time for music and singing and has travelled far and wide including invitations as a guest to the Milwaukee Irish Festival held annually in August, has also given workshops and participated in the Irish Arts Week in East Durham, Catskill Mountains, New York held each July. In March 2001 she was invited to sing at the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Tanzania and in the July of the previous year was guest at a week long summer school in Tocane in the south of France. In July 2007 she again visited the USA to participate in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC.

       Although Róisín’s singing has enabled her to perform across the world, she has not neglected the many song and music events in her native Ireland such as The Sligo Singers’ Gathering in October, The Frank Harte Commemoration in September and the Diarmuid ó Suilleabháin weekend in Coolea, West Cork in December. She is also involved with the Oireachtas – the main Irish language cultural event held in October /November each year. There she has adjudicated at competitions, as she has at many feiseanna and fleadhanna.

       Roisín is now enjoying early retirement from her life as a teacher, survivor from breast cancer she and now spends a lot of her time in West Clare with her husband Alwyn Wilson, a native of York, and who also sings a song!

       The title of her second CD, ‘With thanks’  (‘Le buíochas’) sums up Róisín’s thoughts of having much to be thankful for. She has met many great source and revival singers who have shared much with her and she hopes that other singers may pick up this CD and learn some of the songs she has recorded – and pass them on to others.