Empire Showband Gallery (1961-1967)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
An article in the Limerick Leader in December, 1964 reported that
the band had hit the road in September, 1961. However, the first mention of the
Empire Showband we could find was January
5th, 1962 when they placed advert in the Dance Band section of the
Irish Independent newspaper. A few days later we found and
advert for them playing a dance (see below). Despite this fact we
found very few listings for gigs they were playing in early 1962
with most of our research showing further adverts listing the band
as having "vacant dates." The
original seven-piece lineup was: Ger Cusack (vocals), Joe Brown
(guitar), Willie Brown (guitar), John Browne (bass), Harry Hockedy
(drums), Christie Falahee (sax), and Mick Hinchey (sax). Although we
don't know his name, we know their manage was based in Limerick as
well.
In September, 1963 the band
announced a change in management to Tom Hynes based in Dublin. By
coincidence (?) the band would play their first Dublin gig about am
month later. However, a advert in the January 11th, 1964 issue of
the Irish Independent Dance Band section showed the band's contact
as Ger Cusack, so we can only assume they changed managers
relatively quickly. After beginning to expand their territory into
places like Dublin, in 1964 it seemed the band seemed to once again
focus on gigs around the south of the country.
An article in December, 1964
(mentioned above) reported that their manager was now Peter Crowley
who was also based in Limerick.
The band seemed to do a good business (based on newspaper adverts),
but never really enjoyed a "breakout"
moment. They released their one and only single in March of 1966,
which is distinguished by the fact that it was an original song (a
relatively rare event in those days) and was written and sung by Ger
Cusack.
On March 16th (only five days
after their record release) an advert in the Independent alerted
promoters that the band had a new manager, Donie Walsh, of Newcastle
West, Co. Limerick. In November 1966, original member and lead
vocalist Ger Cusack left the
band forming the Ger Cusack Quintet. An article in June of
1967 announced Michael Cleary was taking a job managing a local
music and record store and was described as a "former
member" of the band. Although the band were still doing gigs, we do
not know who replaced Ger or Michael.
The last advert for the band we
found was for July 23rd, 1967 playing in O'Brien's Hall, Newmarket
for their annual festival.
More to come.....
click on thumbnails for full image
