Biography

Brendan Francis "Brush" Shiels (born 24 October 1945, Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland) is a musician best known for being the frontman of Gary Moore's first rock band, Skid Row. He had a show on RTÉ Television called Off yer Brush and was twice managed by boyband mentor Louis Walsh. He appears regularly, providing musical accompaniment, on the Joe Duffy Liveline radio programme on RTÉ and still performs live in Ireland. Shiels played football for Bohemian Football Club in the 1960s. He has helped Bohemians by making appearances at fundraising events to try and ensure the survival of his former club. In 1971, Billboard praised Shiels, Bridgeman, and Moore for their album 34 Hours suggesting the "lads will travel far". Shiels has played at such American music venues as Fillmore West in San Francisco and Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, and in 1986 he played at the Self Aid benefit concert for unemployed people in Ireland. In October 2012, he suffered heart failure caused by a viral infection and was admitted to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin for two weeks. In 2013, he was one of the legends from the Irish entertainment business to perform at the Philip Chevron testimonial.