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Lisa Margaret Hannigan (born 12 February 1981) is an Irish musician, singer, composer, and voice actress. She began her musical career as a member of Damien Rice's band. Since beginning her solo career in 2007, she has released three albums: Sea Sew (2008), Passenger (2011), and At Swim (2016). Hannigan's music has received award nominations in Ireland and the United States. Hannigan drew attention in North America for her role as Blue Diamond in Steven Universe, an animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar.
In 2007, Hannigan returned to Dublin and began a solo career. Some of Hannigan's live recordings were available through trading networks radio shows. These recordings included: "Willy" by Joni Mitchell, "Be My Husband" by Nina Simone (from the 1965 album Pastel Blues), "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin and "Love Hurts" by Boudleaux Bryant. Hannigan performed live with her own band, The Daisy Okell Quartet, and contributed guest vocals to the recordings of Mic Christopher, The Frames and Herbie Hancock.
Sea Sew received favourable reviews in the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. The single "Lille" was released in August 2008 on Irish and American radio stations. Hannigan performed at Electric Picnic 2008. She opened for singer-songwriter Jason Mraz on his 2008 U.S. tour.
That year she appeared on the charity album Even Better Than the Disco Thing, and performed a duet of Mick Flannery's new song "Christmas Past" with Flannery on Tony Fenton's Christmas Special on Today FM. In December 2008, she made her UK solo debut at St Johns Church in London. Hannigan signed with ATO Records in the U.S., where her album was released in February 2009.
Sea Sew was nominated for the Choice Music Prize and Best Irish Album at the Meteor Music Awards in January 2009.
That year, Hannigan appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Colbert Report. In 2009, Hannigan appeared on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland, performing "I Don't Know". Sea Sew rose in the UK charts following this appearance and she performed at Glastonbury 2009 music festival and went on tour later in the year. She performed at the nomination ceremony and was greeted by confused journalists wondering "Lisa who?".
Hannigan performed at Electric Picnic 2009 Later in 2009, she toured the United States with David Gray and performed solo shows in New York, Los Angeles and London. She toured Ireland to finish the year. Hannigan's song "An Ocean and a Rock" was used in a 2009 Irish video supporting same-sex marriage entitled "Sinéad's Hand". As part of an advertisement campaign for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair, Hannigan was drenched in melted chocolate. She participated in the Irish musical collective The Cake Sale with lead vocal on the track "Some Surprise", played on the US television series Grey's Anatomy.
Hannigan contributed to the 2009 charity album Sparks n' Mind, released in aid of Aware.
In 2009, a broadcast of Other Voices was recorded. RTÉ Archive and it was pre announced at the time
The songs "Lille" and "Braille" from this album were used in the film Ondine in 2009.
Hannigan performed at the Eurosonic Festival in 2012 when Ireland was the "Spotlight Country".
In 2023, Hannigan was a backing vocalist on two tracks on Ed Sheeran's album -, also produced by Dessner.
In 2007, "9 Crimes", performed by Rice and Hannigan, appeared on the soundtrack for Shrek the Third.
In 2009, Hannigan's "Braille" and "Lille" appeared on the soundtrack for Ondine.
In 2013, Hannigan provided vocals to the soundtrack for Alfonso Cuarón's , and performed a cover of Richard Hawley's "You Haunt Me" for Another Me.
In 2014, Hannigan and John Smith contributed vocals for the Steven Price-conducted soundtrack for Fury.
In 2014, she voiced Bronagh, the Selkie mother of the main characters in the animated film Song of the Sea, and provided several songs to the film's soundtrack.
In 2015, she sang a version of "Danny Boy" for the seventh episode of the second season of Fargo.
In 2017, she started voicing the character Blue Diamond for the television series Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar. She performed a cover of David Bowie's "Oh! You Pretty Things" for the closing credits of the sixth episode of the first season of Legion.
In 2018, she arranged and performed a version of the traditional Irish song "Weile Weile Waile" for the soundtrack of The Hole in the Ground.
In 2019, she reprised her role as Blue Diamond for the television film . In 2020, she returned to the role in the follow-up series Steven Universe Future.
In 2023, Hannigan covered Britney Spears's "Toxic" for season 5, episode 8 of Fargo.
Hannigan performs using "broken-down, wheezy old instruments". Herbie Hancock said of her vocals, "there's so much jazz in the notes and phrases that she picks. She was singing the ninths, the elevenths of the chords...I mean some of the things sound like choices that Miles Davis would have made."Documentary film "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities", ©2006 HDNet Films LLC; ©2006 Magnolia Home Entertainment
Returning to Ireland, both Hannigan and Rice began to work together recording music, including songs like "Unplayed Piano" and "Once I Loved." Hannigan featured on Rice's first two solo albums and a number of EPs and live recordings. Both Irish artists toured for a number of years together and were in a relationship, but in 2007 Hannigan left Damien Rice and his band the afternoon before a live show in Munich. Rice released a statement saying that their professional relationship had "run its creative course" in March 2007.
She and her husband have a son.
|- | 2009 || Sea Sew || Best Debut Album || |- | 2009 || Sea Sew || Best Irish Album || |- | 2009 || "I Don't Know" || Best Irish Track || |- | 2009 || Lisa Hannigan || Best Female || |-
Hannigan's second album, Passenger, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in January 2012, and she also lost out to Jape that year.
|- | 2009 || Sea Sew || Irish Album of the Year 2008 || |- | 2012 || Passenger || Irish Album of the Year 2011 || |-
|- | 2009 || Sea Sew || Best Irish Album || |- | 2009 || Lisa Hannigan || Best Irish Female || |-
Hannigan was referred to as 2009's "token folk nominee" in the UK, with the NME calling her a "token folkie". One British journalist even claimed she was "truly obscure" and part of the "moribund sensitive singer-songwriter genre". Ed Power, writing in the Irish Independent, criticised such claims, wondering if Jape (whose album Ritual beat Hannigan to the Choice Music Prize) had come close to receiving a Mercury nomination—"Or, for that matter, how many of the judges had even heard of him".
|- | 2009 || Sea Sew || Best Album || |-
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