Paddy Goes To Holyhead (also PGTH or Paddies) are a German Folk-Rock band from Darmstadt (Germany) founded by Paddy Schmidt in 1988.

The band's name not only is inspired by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, but also refers to the so-called "paddies", a term once used for Irish emigrants, as well as the Welsh seaport Holyhead which had been an important transit station for many Irish emigrants.


Current members:

Paddy Schmidt: vocals, guitar, harp, whistles, bagpipes
Jo Naumann (1992–1995, and again since 2005): vocals, accordion, keyboards
Uwe "Uhu" Bender (since 2005): bass
Nicole Ansperger (since 2005): fiddle
Dirk "Schimmel" Schäfer (since 2007, former X-Cellent): percussion


Former members:

Rainer Opitz (1988-1991)
Andreas Reich (1988–1991); 1992–2003 with An Cat Dubh
Mathias Kohlmann (1989–1993)
Kalle Spriestersbach (1993-2007); former Crazy ’bout Kinski
Andi Kopp (1993–1998); former Crazy ’bout Kinski
Almut Ritter (1993–1997)
Blacky P. Schwarz (1995–1998)
Helen Mannert (1997–2001)
Jürgen Köhler (1998-2003)
Markus Hochwürden Ries (1998–2001)
Rüdiger Kist (1999–? , 2003–2005)
Jens Kempgens (2001–2004)
Wolfgang Ritter (2001–2004)
Mark Patrick (2002–2004)
Boris Mittelstädt (2004)
Marian Juravlea (2004)


Discography:

1989 — The Fairy King (Tape, self-published)
1989 — On The One Road (Tape, self-published)
1990 — Emigrants (Vinyl-LP, self-published)
1991 — Live In Darmstadt (Tape, self-published)
1992 — Here’s To The People (CD, Indigo)
1993 — Supermegaultraliveshow (CD, Indigo)
1994 — Ready For Paddy? (CD, Indigo)
1996 — E.& O.E. (CD, Indigo)
1998 — Hooray (CD, Indigo)
1998 — Live (CD, Indigo)
2000 — Paddy Tales (CD, Indigo)
2002 — Red Letter Days (CD, Indigo)
2004 — Acoustic Nights (CD, Indigo)


Website (in German):
http://www.paddy.de

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/paddygoes2holyhead Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.