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Ronan Hardiman was born on May 19, 1961 in Dublin, Ireland. He grew up in a musical family and studied classical piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. After twelve years as a bank employee at the Bank of Ireland, he decided to pursue a career as a composer in 1990. He composed music for Irish television productions, including the theme music for RTÉ News and the nature documentary Waterways. In 1996, he achieved international fame by composing the soundtrack for Michael Flatley's dance show Lord of the Dance, which reached over 60 million viewers worldwide. The album of the same name sells over 1.5 million copies and reaches number 50 in the British album charts. In 1998, Ronan Hardiman released his first solo album Solas, which reached gold status in Ireland and the top 10 of the Billboard New Age charts in the USA. The single "Heaven", sung by French singer Barbra Scaff, becomes a top 10 hit in France. The album Feet of Flames, a live recording of a concert in Hyde Park, London, follows in 1999. In 2000, Anthem is released, which combines Celtic sounds with pop elements and is also placed in the US Billboard Top 20 of the world music charts. The title "Ancient Lands" from this album is used by Russian figure skater Alexei Jagudin in his "Overcome" program at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Ronan Hardiman also composes for film and television, including the music for the award-winning children's film My Friend Joe (1996), which won the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. Other works include the music for the TV series Neverland (2011) with Bob Hoskins and Rhys Ifans. In 2016, he co-composed the song "Sunlight" for Nicky Byrne, Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
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