Gerry grew up in the town of Dundalk, County Louth in a family of musicians, dancers and singers. From an early age, he was involved Irish music and dance winning numerous All Ireland titles between 1967 and 1973 in a range of formations including duet, trio and four Céili Band titles. His mother Rose, née O’Brien taught Gerry and his siblings the fiddle at home and she continued to teach from there for the next 40 years. His father Peter was a singer whose seven uncles all played music. Today, Gerry himself is regarded as one of the great fiddle players of his generation. His own background in step dancing translates into the vibrant pulsating dance music for which he is noted.

He has played and recorded with such highly regarded groups as Lá Lúgh (Eithne Ní Uallacháin, Sony Music) and Skylark (Len Graham, Gary O’Briain & Mairtin O’Connor), recording four CDs on the Claddagh label. Gerry has toured and recorded with members of all the legendary groups including Planxty, Bothy Band, De Dannan, Boys of the Lough and Chieftains.

He was co-founder and first Artistic Director of Ceol Chairlinn, an annual teaching festival in Carlingford, Co Louth.  He is also the Traditional Arts coordinator at the newly established Creative-Connexions Irish/Catalan Arts festival in Sitges. He teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer school and at master classes throughout Europe. Recent re-releases of his music can be heard with Desi Wilkinson and Eithne Ní Uallacháin of the album Cosa Gan Bhróga (Gael Linn) and Senex Puer on IML. With the vocal accapella trio White Raven led by Kathleen Dineen, Gerry has recorded and performed throughout Europe at International Choral Festivals including RheinVocal and Merano. Gerry is currently touring and has recorded 6 albums with much celebrated Irish-Canadian-based group The Irish Rovers.

With countless critically acclaimed recordings awards and accolades, over the course of his career since the 70’s, Gerry continues to be in high demand to teach, consult, present and perform both at home and internationally. When he is not doing any of that and gets time to enjoy home, Gerry works as a violin maker/restorer.