Altonaires Story (1952-1980)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
Editor's note: Every care
has been taken to present only factual information in our stories
based on first person reports, newspaper articles and photographic
archives. If you can add anything or correct info in this story,
please email us and let us know.
The first mention we can find of the Altonaires Dance Band is in
November, 1952 when they were being managed by Sean Young from
Rialto, Dublin. They had a date free after a cancellation.
Researching the band has been strange as the first 20 and more
references to them we have found are similar, adverts looking for
gigs. Sean was both a member and manager of the band and played
piano. We are assuming that although the band was "on the road" as
early as 1952, the gigs they were getting were not large ballrooms
as they were never advertised as far as we can see.
The first actual gig we have found is on January 29th, 1959 for the
Pembroke Social Group's Teachers dance in Parnell Square. Through
the first half 1959, this appeared to be the only gig they played so
we assume they had a once-a-week residency, although adverts looking
for gigs popped up every once in a a while. The only band member we
have found mentioned was Jimmy Stokes,
The above pattern remained
unbroken until August 19th, 1959 when they were part of a two band
session in Barry's Hotel. In November, they played in the Garda Hall
in Kevin Street. In early 1960, they seemed to be spreading their
wings (a little) as they moved to a Thursday night residency in the
Ierne Ballroom. They were listing in adverts that they were playing
places liker Lehane and Charleville, but we can't find adverts for
those gigs. At this point they were a six piece band.
In October, 1960, the band played
at the Dunboyne Dance Carnival in County Meath, one of the first
newspaper ads for a gig we found for the band. It would be safe to
say that the Altonaires were very much a Dublin band at this point
and rarely ventured out of the city.
In early 1961, the band added more
venues, but almost all in Dublin, including the Crystal Ballroom and
the Matt Talbot Hall. Given the quick rise to prominence of so many
showbands back in the early sixties, it is strange that the
Altonaires were very slow to grow, adding a few more gigs in 1962
like the Palm Beach Ballroom, but still not venturing outside
Dublin. To this end, we have to assume they were part time in these
early days and not willing to make the commitment to "go
professional" but happy to do local gigs.
We know that between 1960 and 1963
they grew from a six piece to 8 piece outfit. By 1964, they were
playing quite a few gigs outside Dublin, traveling to Cavan, Cork,
Waterford and Kerry, among other places, but still playing quite a
bit in their usual Dublin spots, especially the Ierne where they
still played every Thursday. In March, 1964, they placed an advert
in the paper looking for a sax player who doubled on clarinet, but
we don't know who got the position.
The band seemed to have more
or less disappeared from the national circuit in 1975, but we
continued to find references to them playing gigs in Dublin as late
as 1980. We have also discovered that Sean
Young (keyboards), who was the leader and manager of the band,
sadly passed away on September 11th, 2010. We think Jimmy Coogan
left the band and started a cabaret group which appears to have
played many of the major cabaret spots around Dublin from 1972 until
1979. They were called the VIPs.
We have no other info on this band yet, if you know anything,
please email
us.
More to come.....
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