Flynn

Alternative folk-rock musician Flynn grew up answering to the name Martin Crotty in the small town of Greystones in Ireland's County Wicklow. But the young guitarist decided in the late '80s that emigrating to the United States was the best way to make a name for himself in the rock music industry. Flynn set up shop in Boston's teeming music scene, joining singer Eric Sean Murphy, drummer Lex Lianos, and bassman Ira Nulton to found the Cliffs of Dooneen in 1991. The band shared its name with a Celtic folk song, but their alternative pop/rock sound revealed very little Irish influence. Their first single, "Through an Open Window," hit the MTV airwaves and Billboard's Modern Rock Top Ten and the band became a major presence in their hometown, garnering several Boston Music Awards. But the group's two albums (The Dog Went East & God Went West and Undertow) failed to produce any other major hits before a life-threatening accident forced Flynn to abandon his music career in 1999. A 35-foot fall from a ladder at his Boston home nearly paralyzed the artist, and it took ten hours of surgery and two grueling years of rehabilitation before he was able to return to music. Flynn completed his comeback with the release of his first solo effort, On Your Way, in 2001. That album earned him another Boston Music Award for Outstanding Debut on an Independent Label. ~ Evan Cater