The Spirits of Gilbride is a musical group who formed as a result of a drunk driver incident. New Yorker Christina Brouder was knocked down near her home in the Bronx and seriously injured.[1] This led to a long period in hospital and, to alleviate the boredom and to cheer her up, her visiting siblings, Corina, Cornelia, Neil & Mary Catherine began performing in the ward.[2] Word got around and after Christina fully recovered they began to perform together in other local hospitals, nursing homes and eventually at charity events.
The children learned to play a variety of musical instruments, including violin, harp, keyboards, drums, fiddle, bagpipes, accordion, tin whistle, and guitar.[3] Corina and Cornelia took care of the vocals. They decided to call themselves the Spirits of Gilbride, Gilbride being the family name of their late grandfather.[4]
The group made their first album, Sibling Revelry, in 1994,[5] and in 2001 came Gilbride, released by Universal Music.[6] They also shot two videos to promote the album and recorded the title track for the European release of the 2000 film, The Little Vampire.[7] They have performed in venues all over America, including The White House,[8] and in Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, and Austria.[9]
Additionally The Spirits of Gilbride accompanied Corina Brouder on her singles