Lily Neill was born in Maryland in the United States and specialises in traditional Irish music and related folk music traditions. She also composes her own tunes.

Lily started playing the harp at the age of nine and gave her first professional public performance the following year, earning many awards at harp competitions in the USA. She also earned a prize at the 1998 All-Ireland competition in Ballina, County Mayo.

As a teenager Lily performed for then-President Bill Clinton, Congressman Richard Neal and Senators Ted Kennedy and George Mitchell as well as with The Chieftains and Derek Bell at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington DC, in his final two performances there.

Neill received a first class honours degree from the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy and released her debut CD, Without Words, in 2004 while still a student. The CD earned her the 2006 New Female Artist of the Year Award from LiveIreland.com and Irish-American News.

She is currently based in Europe. She performed in Brittany at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in both 2007 and 2008.