New Announcement from Celtic Woman

Celtic Woman is thrilled to announce that Mairead Carlin will be returning for the 20th Anniversary.

Mairéad joined Celtic Woman in 2013, and has performed on numerous albums and tours.

We are delighted to be sharing the stage with Mairéad again for the exciting year ahead. Please join us in welcoming Mairéad back.

We also want to wish Hannah the best with her future projects and thank her for stepping in for the Symphony Tour in 2022.

From their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/celticwoman

Wow! I'm very glad to have Mairéad Carlin back, but I am in complete shock right now.

Wow! I'm very glad to have Mairéad Carlin back, but I am in complete shock right now.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not Hannah is actually leaving. If Mairéad is just returning for the 20th anniversary concert filming, then I'd assume Hannah would return for the tour.

Wow! I'm very glad to have Mairéad Carlin back, but I am in complete shock right now.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not Hannah is actually leaving. If Mairéad is just returning for the 20th anniversary concert filming, then I'd assume Hannah would return for the tour.

We also want to wish Hannah the best with her future projects and thank her for stepping in for the Symphony Tour in 2022.
Is it possible that Hannah was never intended to be permanent?

Wow! I'm very glad to have Mairéad Carlin back, but I am in complete shock right now.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether or not Hannah is actually leaving. If Mairéad is just returning for the 20th anniversary concert filming, then I'd assume Hannah would return for the tour.

We also want to wish Hannah the best with her future projects and thank her for stepping in for the Symphony Tour in 2022.
Is it possible that Hannah was never intended to be permanent?

It seems odd that they would pick a stopgap for a single symphony tour rather than just keep Chloë on for a few more months or bring back a previous member for the Christmas tour. I get the sense that she was intended to be with the group for longer. As for when and why this decision was made, I don't know.

You can spin this a whole bunch of different ways.  Performers do not have "steady" jobs.  Yes, being on the road can be tiring, so it's understandable that someone decides to leave.  However, that also means you need to find another job sooner or later. 

I like Mairead, but I don't like this at all. They're acting like Hannah was a stand-in. She wasn't. Her pictures are on the 2023 calendar, and she was doing quickfire Q&A's with them as recently as June. She did the Instagram introduction video for their new music video release, which she wasn't even in. She liked the post announcing Emma as a new member, so she clearly thought they would be performing together. She has NOT liked the post announcing Mairead's return and thanking her for "stepping in." I don't know what happened, and I don't know what they told her, but they used her, and I hope she doesn't let it affect her or her career because her voice is amazing.

Maybe Hannah didn’t want to stay for real long. She did fill in for Susan as Susan didn’t go on the Christmas tour, likely to stay home with her children.

I was excited to see a post with Mairéad picture.....then after getting really excited and thinking CW finally getting back to 5 girls with 4 vocals.....I saw the sad news about Hannah. :'(

It seems all of a sudden. I'm guessing Hannah may had a larger opportunity and decided to go for it. My hopes that's the case and it's not on bad terms. Maybe Hannah will be back someday and stay on for a couple of tours. It doesn't make any since with Hannah being on their socials over the last 6 months more than the others. I really haven't seen any videos of Emma.

I'm really excited to see the new lineup with Mairéad, Muirgen, and Emma and hear how they'll sound! I was thinking Emma would be in the same range as Mairéad, but this would be interesting to see.

I've also noticed their website is out of date. Like 6 months out of date. On the about page, it still has Meghan in the current lineup. This does confirm my suspension, which was posted here months ago, about Hannah's picture being gray and not color.

Maybe Hannah didn’t want to stay for real long. She did fill in for Susan as Susan didn’t go on the Christmas tour, likely to stay home with her children.

Yeah for Christmas cards from Ireland the lineup was Susan, Megan, Muirgen, Tara (which obviously was recorded before they introduced Hannah)

I like Mairead, but I don't like this at all. They're acting like Hannah was a stand-in. She wasn't. Her pictures are on the 2023 calendar, and she was doing quickfire Q&A's with them as recently as June. She did the Instagram introduction video for their new music video release, which she wasn't even in. She liked the post announcing Emma as a new member, so she clearly thought they would be performing together. She has NOT liked the post announcing Mairead's return and thanking her for "stepping in." I don't know what happened, and I don't know what they told her, but they used her, and I hope she doesn't let it affect her or her career because her voice is amazing.

This is reminding me a little bit of Susan back in 2012... Originally she was filling in for Lisa K who, was considered on maternity leave at the time, as Lisa K didn't announce her decision to leave until late Spring of 2012 when she announced her Academy. And then when they released Home For Christmas in 2012 it had Meav, no Lisa K or Susan. Then Susan ended up sticking around (for which I'm very grateful). I stuck with the girls then and I'll do so now, I just hope we get the true lineup finalized soon.

Wow! What?

The wording of the announcement is similar to those about Emma. They make it sound like Emma and Mairead C are on board temporarily. (I hope I am wrong about that.) Kind of reminds me of the guest singers on the Decade / X tour.

I guess we'll find out more later. But like everyone said, I'd hate for it to be that Hannah was always Plan B. And Plan A was to get bigger names or returning members.

I'm really stoked about Mairead C's return though! Just a little conflicted & confused about Hannah.

I like Mairead, but I don't like this at all. They're acting like Hannah was a stand-in. She wasn't. Her pictures are on the 2023 calendar, and she was doing quickfire Q&A's with them as recently as June. She did the Instagram introduction video for their new music video release, which she wasn't even in. She liked the post announcing Emma as a new member, so she clearly thought they would be performing together. She has NOT liked the post announcing Mairead's return and thanking her for "stepping in." I don't know what happened, and I don't know what they told her, but they used her, and I hope she doesn't let it affect her or her career because her voice is amazing.

This is reminding me a little bit of Susan back in 2012... Originally she was filling in for Lisa K who, was considered on maternity leave at the time, as Lisa K didn't announce her decision to leave until late Spring of 2012 when she announced her Academy. And then when they released Home For Christmas in 2012 it had Meav, no Lisa K or Susan. Then Susan ended up sticking around (for which I'm very grateful). I stuck with the girls then and I'll do so now, I just hope we get the true lineup finalized soon.

We had a few good years of much-needed stability and now it's like a revolving door or musical chairs again. It's refreshing to experience new lineups and get excited over new and returning members. It's getting exhausting though. I'm not even sure I can list all the changes any more:
- Éabha departs (end of Christmas tour 2019, announced in January of the "year that shall not be named," before the Celebration tour)
- Chloë makes her shocking return to Celtic Woman, taking over for Éabha
- In that same nameless year, but Susan fills in for Chloë for some dates to allow Chloë to fulfill her solo show commitments
- Mairéad departs (January 2021)
- Muirgen joins (announced June 2021) to take over for Mairéad
- Chloë and Susan remain guests for the Postcards from Ireland DVD recording and album, as well as the Postcards tour
- Hannah is announced as a new member (October 2022)
- Christmas Cards from Ireland EP and Holiday Edition PBS special are released (2022), still featuring Susan, but not Chloë or Hannah
- Hannah is on the Christmas tour
- Megan departs (end of Christmas tour 2022, announced April 2023)
- Emma takes over for Megan (announced May 2023)
- Hannah departs and Mairéad Carlin returns (July 2023)

If I were to try to explain that to a random person, I couldn't do it even with the aid of a flowchart.

They're keeping us on our toes.

Just wait until they announce the special guests for the 20th Anniversary DVD recording. This is going to be a fun month. Woooooo!

Maybe Hannah didn’t want to stay for real long. She did fill in for Susan as Susan didn’t go on the Christmas tour, likely to stay home with her children.

I sincerely hope that's the case because the alternative is not good at all. But, considering that there are non-Christmas pictures of Hannah with the girls for the 2023 calendar, and the fact that she was active with them on social media up until last month, I don't think she was ever supposed to be a "fill in." Although I do get the impression CW wants us to think that now. She was basically a footnote in their announcement. The fact that Hannah herself has not put out a statement, like Mairead C, Eabha, and Megan all did when they left, doesn't look good to me either. And if she were only meant to be there for the Christmas tour, why did CW and Hannah still act like she was a member for the next six months? I hope she left because she wanted to and not because they decided that bringing Mairead back was a better option. Financially, maybe it was. Mairead was there for eight years and multiple specials and definitely has many more fans. But no new member ever has as many fans at first as the ones who came before them, so that's kind of an unfair comparison.

This is not to take anything away from Mairead. She's a wonderful singer and was incredible in Celtic Woman. But it's the 20th anniversary. They could alternate older and newer members for the next two years and people would be happy. They did it for the 10th anniversary, and people liked being able to see the different lineups. Going back to four vocalists would be a welcome option, as well.