Biography
Bill Monaghan’s love of music ratcheted up to new levels when an old piano from his grandparents’ basement landed in his family’s living room. He was 11 years old and thrilled with the gift.
Piano lessons had started when he was seven. But without a piano for practicing, he had focused instead on listening – to the Clancy Brothers, captured on his father’s records, to Jim Croce, the Beatles, Sha Na Na, John Williams’ track for
Star Wars, and Beethoven. That eventually translated into his ability to learn by ear the music of Billy Joel, Ray Charles and others.
In high school he taught himself to play the guitar, started composing, and formed the rock-and-roll band, Some Assembly Required. With 80s music as a major influence, he wrote “For All You Were Was Life” and “All the Years Gone By.”
At the University of Scranton he frequently collaborated with long-time friend, Tom Feledick, directed several musicals and played in rock cover bands. Bill graduated cum laude with a B.A. in English and minors in math and music.
Bill has written musical plays (Brunswick 2057, The Word: A Gospel Opera), children’s ballets (The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Wizard of Oz), film soundtracks (Lusting for Dust Words), orchestrations with other lyricists (Flying Horses, Antigone, Schumaker and the Elves), teen mission theme songs for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (“I Am Loving You for Life,” “Walk His Way”), and liturgical music settings (The Psalms).
He continues to perform in musical plays; with his bands, Some Assembly Required and Celtic Pride; and with his music ministry in church. He has produced 9/11 In Memoriam (CD), Some Assembly Required (CD), The Word: A Gospel Opera (CD as well as a film version in DVD) and Celtic Pride (CD).
Since he was 16, Bill has wanted to be a writer of song, lyric and story. Never running out of ideas or material, he keeps tapping into an uplifting, heartfelt energy to create an almost endless supply of work.
Instrumentation
Bill Monaghan - Keyboards, guitar, harmonica
Carl Lichtner - acoustic guitar, vocals
Brian DiBiagio - electric and acoustic guitars
Christine Favorite - vocals, percussion
Shannon McMullen - vocals, percussion
Jim Monaghan - bass, vocals
Rick Conicelli - drums and percussion
Discography
911 In Memoriam
Some Assembly Required
Celtic Pride
The Word: A Gospel Opera
Links
| http://www.monaghanmusic.com |