Nell Ní Chróinín hails from the Múscraí Gaeltacht of West Cork, where she grew up in the small village of Béal Áthá’n Ghaorthaidh. The Múscraí area is historically linked with a strong heritage of song and music and Nell was exposed to these local traditions from a very young age, which throughout her career has been the corner stone to her identity as an artist and a traditional Sean Nós singer. Her immersion which had started at home continued in Primary and secondary school as a result of the singing scheme entitled ‘Scéim Amhránaíochta Aisling Gheal’ which aimed to preserve the local songs by teaching them to the younger generation of the area and encouraging them to sing them. Nell attended these classes from the age of 10 under the tuition of the wonderfully talented Máire Ní Chéilleachair with whom Nell accredits many of her successes. Máire would not only teach the songs, but also the history of the songs and would expose the class to some old recordings of local singers who were no longer with us. This spurred Nell’s interest in the singing massively and she began to sing publicly from the age of 11 at local festivals or sessions. She enjoyed success as a younger singer, including several underage singing medals and titles from various Irish festival competitions such as Oireachas na Samhna and The Fleadh Ceoil.

Her accomplishments at the Oireachtas festival blossomed as she won the prestigious Corn Uí Riada competition in 2014. This was a momentous win for Nell personally, as the youngest winner in the history of the competition at the time. It was however also a momentous for the wider Múscraí singing community as it was the first time any singer from her locality had won this accolade which was particularly significant as it was named after the local composer and highly acclaimed musician, Seán Ó Riada.

In 2012 she was the youngest ever recipient of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Amhránaí na Bliana award to which she believes is one of her highest honours and achievements to date. In 2016 she became the lead singer with the highly renowned traditional band, Danú. This for Nell was a change as she was so familiar with singing in the sean-nós style without accompaniment. This again helped her further develop as an artist, crafting her own voice while still be firmly rooted in tradition. She is thoroughly enjoying exploring singing in this different context and she recorded her first album with Danú in 2018, entitled Ten Thousand Miles. She regularly tours with the group in the USA.