Chieftains Band Feature (1962?-present)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
Trying to trace the band's actual
history has been difficult. Despite both Wikipedia and their own
website stating the band was founded in 1962, the first reference to
"the Chieftains" we could find in Irish newspaper archives was in
1968 when they appeared at the Edinburgh Festival. Our search nis
further hampered by the fact that "Chieftain" was a named used by
several racing horses and greyhounds in the early 1960's.
However, in 1964, they did release
their first album, simply called "The
Chieftains" which featured five musicians: Paddy Maloney (pipes and
tin whistle), Michael Tubridy (flute and concertina), Sean Potts
(tin whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle) and David Fallon (bodhran). It
would seem (based on these findings that although Paddy, Sean and
Martin played together quite a lot in the early 1960's the "band"
concept was a loose concept, as was (and still is) the case with
many traditional musicians.
In 1966, we did find a listing in
which Paddy Maloney, Sean Potts and Martin Fay were playing, but no
mention of the Chieftains. In early 1967, Paddy, Sean and Martin
were part of the "Big Ballad Show" in the Old Shieling Hotel for the
best part of the year and the show also featured Angela Byrne, Mick
Crotty and Brendan O'Duill.
During the late 1960's the band
continued to play together and separately, honing their sound as
distinctly "Chieftains," as opposed to
Ceili music which had been the main form of instrumental Irish music
up until that time. In 1969 they recorded their second album,
"Chieftains 2," which included two new members, Peader Mercier
(bodhran) and Sean Keane (fiddle) and they were a six piece group.
These six musicians would be a steady line-up for over a decade.
It would actually be in 1971,
after releasing their third album (Chieftains 3) that the band
started to get widespread appreciation of their music and their
concerts began gaining wildly positive reviews as the new
"traditional music for a younger generation." They also started to
build their reputation internationally, traveling abroad on a
regular basis and to some degree, this seemed to dampen their
success at home.
1973's "Chieftains 4" album firmly
established harpist Derek Bell as the 7th member of the band and
gave their music a new dimension (although the sleeve notes listed
the band adding "with Derek Bell" so he wasn't considered a
permanent member quite yet).
By mid 1975, the pressure had been
steadily mounting on the previously "semi-professional" group to
turn pro.
Looking back, it is hard to believe that in an interview published
in the April 24, 1975 issue of Spotlight magazine Paddy
Moloney is quoted as saying, "The crunch is going to come about next
March, we're going to have to make a decision as to whether the
Chieftains are going to go professional or not." He continued,
"Certainly, I'll be stepping down from here (i.e. Claddagh Records),
I can't possibly go on looking after both the Chieftains and
Claddagh, but I'll still remain a director of the company, of
course."
1975 would be a great turning
point for the band as they undertook their first "world tour," had
their music featured in the movie hit "Barry Lyndon" and took the
United States by storm. From this point they would never look back
and were constantly touring and in demand across the entire planets
both for concerts and to lend their musical prowess to a wide
variety of projects. Although playing together for over a decade,
they had gone from being known as Ireland's "underground"
traditional group to becoming the "world famous Chieftains" in just
under five years.
By the late 1970's original member
Michael Tubridy had left the band and was replaced by Matt Malloy on
flute. A few years earlier bodhran player Peader Mercier was
replaced by Kevin Conneff. Both of whom are still with the band
today. For the next forty years, the Chieftains maintained their
status as one of the top ambassadors of Ireland around the world.
Their music has entertained and inspired millions of people while
setting new standards for "traditional music."
Sadly two members of the band,
Derek Bell (died October 2002) and Martin Fay (died November 2012)
have passed away and not been replaced as members of the band. As we
write this i August of 2019, it appears the Chieftains are now a
three piece with only Paddy, Matt Molloy and Kevin Conneff remaining. Although officially the band is comprised of the
three musicians mentioned above, they are augmented on stage with
several other musicians in their "touring" band, including a harpist
and another fiddle player. Also based on photos on the Internet,
although it appeared Sean Keane did not travel with the band all the time as he
is noted to be absent from several recent photos of the band, their
own website now lists him as a "former member."
One way or another, from their humble beginnings
the Chieftains have remained, arguably, the greatest force in Irish
instrumental traditional music for nearly 60 years. .
If you can add any details to this
story,
please let us know....
click on thumbnails for full image
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Paddy Moloney: Paddy,
the driving force behind the Chieftains since before its
inception continues to keep the band going and growing with
a new tour planned for the USA in 2020. From the Chieftains'
website: The sound that Paddy created some 40 years ago has
become the instantly recognisable sound of The Chieftains,
which lives on fresh today and has always set them apart
from any other traditional line up throughout out the world.
In 1968 and having recorded a number of albums with The
Chieftains, Paddy decided to leave Baxendales to work full
time in the music industry as the Managing Director of
Claddagh Records. He ran the label for seven years until
1975 during which time he helped to develop Claddagh’s
catalogue and also a market for it. During this time he also
produced, co-produced or supervised 45 albums for the
Claddagh label in folk, traditional, classical, poetry and
spoken word recordings. |
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Martin Fay - RIP:
Martin sadly passed away on November 14th, 2012 and had been
ill for some time. We found that he had apparently not
played with the band since about 2002. He was 76 years old. |
 |
Sean Keane: Sean, a
member of the band for close to fifty years, appears to have
retired from playing. On the Chieftains website he is listed
as a "former member" who "lives in Dublin with his wife
Marie, and they have 3 children and 4 grandchildren.
More to come... |
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Matt Malloy: Having
joined the band in 1979, this year Matt celebrates 40 years
with the band. Having been a founder member of the Bothy
Band and played with Planxty, he remains one of the foremost
traditional musicians in the world. He also enjoys running
his world famous pub in his home town of Westport, Co. Mayo
these days where he can often be found playing in
traditional sessions with musicians from the area and
beyond. More to come... |
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Derek Bell - RIP:
From the Chieftains' website: Derek is best known for
his talents on the harp, but he was an accomplished musician
on the oboe, horn, hammered dulcimer and keyboards. His
talents on the oboe and keyboards were integrated into the
sounds of the Chieftains. His talents on the hammered
dulcimer has lead to the recreation of the ancient Irish
instrument known as the tiompan. Besides recording with The
Chieftains, Derek recorded six solo albums, five on harp and
one on piano. Derek also played the oboe, harpsichord,
mediaeval harp, Kurzweil synthesizer, organ, piano, and
keyboard. Derek lived in Belfast with his wife Stephanie and
his many much loved cats, until October 2002 when he sadly
passed away. |
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Ray Conneff: Kevin
joined the band in 1975 and in 2020 he will celebrate 45
years on the road with the Chieftains. More to come... |
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Sean Potts - RIP:
Sean sadly passed away on February 10, 2014 aged 83. |
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Michael Tubridy: From
the Chieftains' website: "The pressures of touring and
performing on stage took its toll on the quiet flute player
and he left the Chieftains in 1979, to go back to work as an
engineer. He has continued to be associated with traditional
music, through teaching at traditional music festivals. He
was best known for playing the flute in a deeply compelling,
traditional style. He is currently 84 (2019). More to
come... |
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Peader Mercier - RIP:
From the Chieftains' website: "At a time when The Chieftains
had future tours lined up for Europe, Australia, and New
Zealand, and were committed to spending six months or more
on the road every year for the foreseeable future, Mercier,
then in his 60’s and with 10 children, felt the pressure and
after a discussion with Moloney, he left the Chieftains in
1975." He sadly passed away in 1991. |
 |
David Fallon: We can
find no mention of David other than his name listed on the
first Chieftain's album as playing Bodhran. If you know
anything about him,
please let us know. |
