Damien Rice began his music career forming the rock band Juniper along with Paul Noonan, Dominic Philips, David Geraghty and Brian Crosby in 1991. The band met whilst they were attending Salesian College secondary school in Celbridge, Co. Kildare as students. After touring throughout Ireland the band released their debut EP "Manna" in 1995.

Based in Straffan, Kildare the band continued touring and signed a six album record deal with Polygram. Their recording projects generated the singles "Weatherman" and "Single of the Fortnight" which received favourable reviews.

After achieving his musical goals with Juniper, Rice became frustrated with the artistic compromises required by the record label, and he left the band in 1998. Rice moved to Tuscany in Italy and took up farming for some time, then returned to Ireland before busking around Europe. After returning to Ireland a second time, Rice gave a demo recording to his cousin, music producer David Arnold who then gave Rice a mobile studio.

In 2001, Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter" made a Top 40 chart. Over the next year he continued to record his album with New York drummer Tom Osander aka Tomo, Paris pianist Jean Meunier, London producer David Arnold, County Meath vocalist Lisa Hannigan and cellist Vyvienne Long. Rice then embarked on a tour of Ireland with Hannigan, Tomo, Vyvienne, and Dublin bassist Shane Fitzsimons.

In 2002, Rice's debut album "O" was released in Ireland, the UK and the United States. The album peaked at No. 8 on the UK albums chart and remained on the chart for 97 weeks, selling 650,000 copies in the US. The album won the Shortlist music prize and the songs "Cannonball," and "Volcano" became Top 30 hits in the UK.

In 2006, Rice released his second album "9," which was recorded during the two years prior.

2007 was a year of heavy touring around Europe and North America.

In 2010, Damien played at the Iceland Inspires concert. Rice recorded a cover of the Juniper track, "Crosseyed Bear" for the compilation, "Help: A Day in the Life."

In spring 2011, Rice was featured on the debut album by French actress and singer Melanie Laurent. He appears on two tracks on her album "En t'attendant" while collaborating on a total of five tracks which appear on the album.

In November 2011, the compilation album "AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered" was released to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of U2's "Achtung Baby" album.