Connie O’Connell is from Cill na Marta in Co. Cork, at the southern tip of the area known as Sliabh Luachra.  He began playing fiddle at around 12 years of age and learnt to read music at classes in Macroom.  As a young fiddle player he was influenced by musicians from Sliabh Luachra such as Denis Murphy, Padraig O’Keeffe and Julia Clifford.  He immersed himself in the Sliabh Luachra style and became recognised as one of its finest exponents.  His first television appearance was in 1969 on RTÉ’s Bring Down the Lamp and he has been recorded many times since then.

He began teaching in the music department of University College Cork in the 1980s with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and also began composing tunes around the same time.  A book of his compositions, Bóithrín na Smaointe, was published in 2015, accompanied by online resources and in 2022 he was awarded Cumadór na Bliana (Composer of the year) at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards.

He is often accompanied by his daughter, Áine, and both have been fiddle tutors at the Willie Clancy Summer School for many years.