Sun Valley Boys Photos (1970-1974)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
The Sun Valley Boys got their start around 1970 when the extremely
popular showband, The Cadets, finally called it quits after almost a
decade on the road. After Eileen Reid gave up performing to have a
child and then went into cabaret, the band went its separate ways.
Noel McGann (bass)
and Brendan O'Connell (guitar) teamed up with Johnny McEvoy and
formed a country band for the ballroom circuit. Eventually Jimmy and
Eileen decided they would do cabaret together. Jas Fagan (trombone)
and Paddy Burns (trumpet) formed the Sun Valley Boys, a country
outfit aimed at the newly emerging massive country and Irish genre
which was dominate by names like Big Tom and Larry Cunningham.
The boys first needed
a lead singer and found one in Kerry man, Denis Bowler. Although born
in Glenbeigh, Denis went to Limerick when he was 12 years old. He
learned the violin (as many did back in the day) and sang in the
school choir but as he said in a 1972 Spotlight interview, "I didn't
have great ambitions in school." At 18, he answered an advert
looking for male psychiatric nurses in St. Ita's Hospital outside
Dublin. "I enjoyed working there," he said, "I was helping people
who were less fortunate than I was." However, Denis had been bitten
by the singing bug and soon started singing in public.
"I was doing some
cabaret work in the Drake Inn and the Tudor Rooms," Denis related,
"the Cadets had just broken up and Paddy and Jas were looking for a
singer to start a new band. They came in for a drink one night and
offered me the job." The original lineup was soon set with Denis
(vocals and fiddle), Jas (trombone) and Paddy (trumpet), joined by
Joe Monks (guitar), Danny Heerey (keyboards), Brian Laffan (drums)
and Shay Martin (bass). Denis Ryan took over the management of the
band and they hit the road in mid 1970. The band would be managed by
Nelius O'Connell who was also managing Jim Farley's band at the
time.
Based out of Dublin
(we think), the band played a country set, but with Denis'
proficiency on the fiddle, they also threw in some Ceili music which
was extremely popular with dancers and they started to make a name
for themselves in the Southeast of the country. As with all bands,
they needed a hit single to establish themselves nationwide and
released their first single, Dingle Bay. The single got lots
of airplay, but did not sell, although it helped broaden their base
of fans. In September, 1970 a blurb in the Evening Herald
reported that the band had switched managers to Aidan Hand.
Around this time, they were also providing backing for Slim
Whitman's short tour of Ireland.
In 1971 the band
signed with Release Records and put out
I Don't Care What You Used To Be with the B-side written by
guitarist Joe Monks called I'm A Sun Valley Boy. Again, the
single had little impact on sales, but the band continued to build a
solid following around the country. Around this time, the band
experienced some lineup changes, although we can be sure exactly
when they occurred.
We think around November, 1971, Eamonn Donnelly
(drums) came to the band from the Capitol after they called it
quits, replacing Brian Laffan and ex-Wheels bassist John Quarney
took over from Shay Martin after the Wheels went off the road. Shay
told us in January 2018 that he left the band to return to his career
as a motor mechanic but got the showbiz bug a year later when
he was approached by Liam Ryan to join the
Farmer's Sons and
returned to the stage for another two years. At the same time,
the band switched managers again, this time going with Oliver Spain
who also ran the Crystal Ballroom, Kiltormer, Ballinasloe.
Finally, in 1972, the
band hit it big with their single The Ireland of Tomorrow,
which was written by Joe Monks and his brother Eric. The record reached number 6 in the
Irish Charts and was reported to be the 17th best selling Irish
single of the entire year. In July of 1972 is was reported that
Dennis Ryan of the Release organisation had taken over the band's
management from Oliver Spain. This was their fourth manager in less
than three years. We are pretty sure the band hits its peak
at this time as they were playing gigs up and down the country and
enjoying their first and only chart success.
They would release
one more record in 1973, a single called McGee's First Week's Pay on
the Release label. The single did not sell well and over the course
of the next twelve months, the band continued to gig but things were
beginning to slow down just a little (we base this view on the very
unscientific fact that in 1972 there were 112 references to the band
in the newspaper archives while in 1973 this went down to 74). In
January, 1974, a new band hit the scene - John Collier and the
Fashion which was being managed by Denis while he was still
touring with the Sun Valley Boys.
An article in The
Kerryman newspaper on March 15th, 1974 reported that Denis had
left the band which "had not been doing well for some time."
He had taken over the management of The Fashion and had
decided himself to move into cabaret. The band would fold following
this move, but would come together occasionally for special events
for the next few years.
A few years later, in
1978, Denis gave up showband management and went in the motor trade,
opening Bowlers Garage and Supermarket, which celebrated 40 years on the go in 2018.
click on thumbnails for full image
