Dawn Knight and the Casuals Feature (1965
- 1971)
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 this story
based on newspaper articles and photographic
archives. If you can add anything or correct info in this story,
please email us and let us know.
We originally reported that the Monaghan-based Casuals, featuring Augher, Co. Tyrone girl
Dawn Knight (aka Maureen Ferguson) officially went on the road at Easter, 1965 in the Seapoint Ballroom in Salthill.
We consequently found a couple of adverts for the Casuals Showbands
in June, 1963 and July, 1964 but we have no idea whether this was
the same band. One way or another the Pat Campbell Showband had been
on the road since 1957. As far as we can tell
Dawn was reported to be 16 years old
at the time and had previously been the lead singer with the Pat
Campbell band, who was also a member of the new Casuals. The
original line-up of the band was: Dawn (aka Maureen vocals), Terry Dynes
(vocals), Frank Murphy (guitar), Colm McQuaid (bass), Frank Hughes
(drums), Matt Ferguson (sax), Colm Brennan (sax) and Pat Campbell
(leader-trumpet). The band was being managed by John McManus from
Fermanagh. They made their debut at Easter. On Friday, July 30th,
they shared the bill with legendary singer Roy Orbison in the Orchid
Ballroom in Lifford.
The band did very well right off the bat, especially across the
North. Later that year, in November, the band released its first
single called "Keep It Safer on the Road."
The song, sung by male vocalist Terry, was written by Pat Campbell
with bass player Colm. The B-side was sung by Dawn and was a
Scottish song called "Maid of Fife." It was released on the new
"Silver Sound" record label. The
article on their new single also mentioned two line-up changes in
the band as Vincent O'Donnell was now on drums and Tony Cannon was
on sax. A later article said the single was a double A-side and was
released on Tony Boland's Tempo label.
On February 19th, 1966, the band
appeared on Telefis Eireann's "Showband
Show." Throughout 1966 the band was very successful and from
strength to strength playing up and down the country. Their second
single would not come until January of 1967 although it was recorded
in late 1966. It was "Tra Le La Le La Triangle" with
"I Hate to See You Cry" on the B-side.
We're not sure whether Dawn sang both numbers, but the record was
released on Pye Records under the watchful eye of John Woods who
would eventually move to Polydor records in 1972.
In September of 1967, Dawn would
be back in the studio recording a new song, "That's
The Kind of World I'm In" which was arranged by Jack Bayle. The
B-side would be "The Butcher Boy" and the record was again released
on the Pye label. At some point during the year (or previously) Pat
took over managing the band as this was stated in
several articles we found, and we discovered he replaced himself
with trumpeter Bunny Lamb. The band remained extremely busy in
1967 based on the number of adverts for their dances across the
country.
In January, 1968 it was announced
that Dawn was one of the sixteen singers chosen to sing in Ireland's
National Song Contest. She was now in the company of many of the
country's biggest vocalists including Roly Daniels, Tina Reynolds,
Pat Lynch, Tony Kenny, and Pat McGeegan among others. She sang the song "Why" penned by Dubliner Mary McDonagh. In the
run-up to the contest, Dawn received great publicity which helped
the band as they toured the country. Unfortunately, Dawn did not
qualify for the seven singer final of the contest which was the year
Pat McGeegan won with "Chance of a Lifetime." Pat placed a
respectable 4th in the Eurovision that year.
Based on the number of adverts for
their gigs, it seems things slowed down for the band during 1969. A
blurb in the "Popsville" column of the Anglo-Celt newspaper
on May 23rd, 1969 reported the band would have a new manager
"shortly" which we assume meant that Pat Campbell would no longer be
involved. A further blurb in the same column in November reported
that Pat was the "former manager of the Casuals" and was now
managing the Assaroe Ceili Band that had recently become a country
and western outfit. We discovered through an advert in the
Irish Independent that Matt Ferguson was the new manager.
In July, 1970, the "Popsville"
column reported that Liam Donnelly was the new manager of the
Casuals. Liam had previously managed the
Swallows and Ventures showbands. A
few months later, in October, major changes were announced for
the "New Look" Casuals. New members were
George Frasier (trombone), Paddy McSherry (sax) and Ian McKenna
(fiddle). We know that Tony Cannon left the band as he was soon a
member of the Smokey Mountain Ramblers.
Unfortunately we don't know who else had left the band to make way
for the new members.
In August, it was announced the
band was changing its name to "Dawn and the Knights," but there was
already a band called the Knights on the scene so we think this
never happened. In November, 1970, the "New Look Casuals" released
their fourth single featuring Dawn with "Silver Sandals" on the
A-side and "For Ever and Ever" on the B-side on the Release label.
Throughout 1971 much of the
publicity surrounding Dawn was about her trying to "recapture" the
popularity she had enjoyed earlier in her career. The band did seem
to pick up steam during the year and appeared to be doing a good
business again.
However, on October 30th, 1971, it
was reported that Dawn retired from performing and moved to
Blackburn with her husband. The band immediately announced her
replacement would be a female vocalist named Rosaleen, the former
lead singer with a band from Derry called the Marshalls. However, we
found one more gig on December 29th for Dawn Knight and the Casuals
in Ballybofey Hall, but couldn't find any gigs advertised for either
Rosaleen or the Casuals after this date so we think the band may
have changed their name or called it quits.
If you know any more,
please
contact us.
More to come.....
click on thumbnails for full image
