Jack Ruane Band Feature (1932-1977)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
While the bulk of the showband entertainment giants came from the
East, North, and South of Ireland, The Jack Ruane Band, from Ballina
(along with the Royal Blues from Claremorris) was one of Mayo's
major contributions to the showband era.
The first advert we could find for
the band was in 1932 for the "Jack Ruane Band of Five." Several
months later the band was being advertised as the Jack Ruane Band
and eventually the Jack Ruane Orchestra. (Editor's note: our
research has shown that tags like "band" and "orchestra" were
applied in no set way, we assume it must have been at the discretion
of the ballroom owner.) Starting out in its native Ballina the band
was soon travelling all across Mayo.
Based on our research, for the
next fifteen years, the band played mainly in Connacht and by 1941,
the band was being advertised as Jack Ruane and his Seven Piece
Dance Orchestra (although in 1946, we found one advert that
specified an "8 piece" band). In March, 1946, the first advert for
the band on a national stage appeared in the Irish Independent's
"Stage" section of the classified ads. A few months later, we found
the band playing in Longford, possibly their first time outside "The
West."
It would take a few years, but by the end of 1947, the band was
playing about 50/50 between Connacht and the rest of the country. During the forties,
fifties and sixties Jack Sr. was one of the top figures on the
music scene west of the Shannon and across the nation. His son,
Judd, who also played with the band has said that his dad was one of
the first bands to leave Ireland during the Lent season and toured
England in the late forties. By 1965 he was on his 22nd tour of the
UK.
During the 1950's the band made
the slow transition from orchestra to showband. Eventually following
the lead of the biggest bands of the day and kicking away their music
stands and sheet music. They also dropped their lineup down from 15
members at one point in the 1950's to an eight-piece band in the
early 1960's.
Jack finally retired from the scene in the mid sixties and his son,
Judd took over as band leader and his other son, Jack Jr. became the
band's front man, playing bass and doing most of the singing. They
continued to be one of the leading bands out of the West.
In 1967, Jack Jr., flew to London
and appeared on the BBC's Monday show, alongside Lulu (pictured
below).
In December, 1970,
the band was involved in an interesting situation when they
advertised the first "budget priced" single record in Ireland at 6/6
(78 old pence or in decimal currency that would have been about
33p). However, the following week, an article in Spotlight
explained that the advert had been a mistake. Pye records had
thought of bringing out a record with only one side to bring down
the cost, but Pye bosses in London realized that bringing out a
record with only one side was technically unfeasible and so the idea
was dropped. Jack's record went on sale for the usual 10 shillings
(about 50p).
In March 1972, Paschal Mooney
reported that Jack had been off the road for a short time due to a
throat infection, but by March he was ready for the band's tour of
England.
From what we can tell, the band
basically went off the road in early 1977, but had continued to come
together on a rare basis for local gigs in the Ballina area as late
as 1992.
More to come.....
click on thumbnails for full image
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Jack Ruane Sr. - RIP:
Jack formed his first band in 1932 and would go on to
entertain audiences across Ireland, England and America for
more than three decades. He left the band in the mid 1960's
but continued to play in local concerts and jazz sessions
right up until his death on May 6th, 1997. He was 85 years
old. |
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Judd Ruane: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Jack Ruane, Jr.:
Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Tommy McDonagh - RIP: Tommy had always been
working, either in bands, groups and as a backing musician.
Tommy came to Ballina from Sligo and joined the Jack Ruane
Showband, later the Fairways. After years on the road he
settled into the group scene around Mayo and played for many years with
Dermot Hopkins. He was active on the music scene in Ballina
up until the time of his death which sadly occurred 18th
January, 2015. |
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Eugene McCaffrey:
Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Joe Sweeney: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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John Crean:
RIP
Johnny was killed in a fatal traffic accident outside
Killala, Co. Mayo on July 25th, 1979 after a successful
career which saw him play drums with both the Fairways and
previously with the Jack Ruane Showband. |
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Alex Reid: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Ray Wordsworth:
Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Johnny Cleary: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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George Hunter: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
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Stan Burns: Stan
Burns retired from the road and became an International
basketball player as well as an Irish surfing champion in
the 70's and 80's. All the while, Stan has played locally
and in jazz clubs in the Northwest with The Jazz Ladds and
his own band, Katch. Today Stan lives in County Leitrim
area where he teaches music and also plays the local club scene with his own jazz trio. |
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Aidan Canning: Unknown - if you have info please email us |
