Warm tributes were paid at a thanksgiving/remembrance service in Ballymore Parish Church on Sunday to the 62-year-old Gilford man who had a distinguished stage and recording career over four decades, entertaining at venues locally, throughout the United Kingdom, the Republic and in the United States and Australia.

Jackie took seriously ill before Christmas, just as he was about to launch a new DVD album, Memories of Ireland. His biggest recording success was in the 1980s with the song Walking, Talking Dolly, which figured in both the Irish and UK charts.

More than 1,000 mourners were in the overflow congregation to hear Ballymore rector the Rev Shane Forster recall Jackie's highly significant musical contribution as a tenor singer with a very distinctive voice, concentrating on the country 'n' Irish and gospel scenes.

Music, said the rector, was Jackie's life-long love and the attendance at the funeral was confirmation of his integrity and the esteem he was held in by associates and by the wider public alike.

Jackie, a senior official with the Ulster Bank for more than 30 years, is survived by his wife Marlene and son Darrin, an aeroplane pilot in the United States who read a lesson at the service.

Showband performer Roly Daniels sang a solo – Precious Lord Take My Hand – and Billy McFarland, another contemporary, played a trumpet solo.

One of Jackie's gospel recordings was played, evoking spontaneous applause from the congregation.

Entertainers among the mourners included Jerry Hanlon (from Chicago), Brian Coll, Susan McCann, Philomena Begley, Joe E Hamilton, Leon McCrum, Gene Fitzpatrick, Eileen King, Terence McKeag, Barbara Allen, Conal Gallen, Curtis Magee, Dick and Lilian Barton, Fiddlin' Tom Cameron, Boxcar Brian, Hugo Duncan and Paddy O'Flaherty from the BBC and Downtown Radio's Warren Smyth.