Sad
news today as Liam Clancy, the last surviving member of the
Last
night I attended the book launch for Johnny Carroll's new
biography, Oh Mein Papa. Written by Philomena Gallagher,
the book tells Johnny's story as one of the youngest musicians
ever to play in a showband at only thirteen. The book documents
his career in music with the Premier Aces, Swallows, Magic Band
and finally as a solo artist. It is also a touching story of a
family man who lost his first wife, Stella, to cancer at age 37,
leaving him with four children to raise on his own. The launch
was held in conjunction with a week long dance outing which
brought dancers from across the North to the Central Hotel in
Donegal at which Johnny and several other bands are playing.
Johnny, who turned 66 recently, sounded as good as ever. I also
met Barney Greene, drummer with The Breakaways, and talked at
length about his career in the showbands starting in 1968.
Eanya
Gallagher from RTE television emailed us today to announce the
upcoming schedule for the
second series of A Little Bit Showband. The six part
series will air on RTE 1 starting Sunday, 15th November at
8:30 p.m. and continue every Sunday through December 20th. 
In
June, 2008, fans of the showband era were saddened to learn of
the sudden death of one of the periods earliest stars, Maisie
McDaniel at her home in Sligo. Maisie's career in music came
full circle tonight when her daughter, Lisa Stanley, launched a
new CD of her mother's greatest hits sung by Lisa and other
stars including Sandy Kelly. The event was compered by one of
the era's greatest supporters, Senator Pascal Mooney. The
programme, which was a celebration of Maisie's career, included
performances by local artists, Paud Griffin, Georgie Gorman and
Marian Fitzgerald, along with Patrick Feeney, Philomena Begley,
Maisie's former husband, Fintan Stanley (back in Sligo form his
home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts) and finally Lisa, herself,
along with Deirdre Stanley. Although a crowd of 300 was
expected, more than 500 people show up to dance and clap along.
Maisie's legacy lives on in the voice and songs of her talented
daughter, Lisa. 
It
is with sincere regret that we learned of the death of singer
Glen "Harry" Curtin this evening in Dublin. Former bandmate of
Glen, Fergus McElligot had emailed us a few days ago telling us
Glen was gravely ill and today we received word from another
member of our community that Glen passed away, he was 66. Glen
started his career in England with his own family's band and
came to Ireland around 1971. He started with a showband called
Xanadu which also featured Tara. He then joined the New Blues.
After the New Blues, Glen joined The Nevada where he sang
opposite Tina. He then formed his own Galaxy Band in the late
seventies/early eighties. He had many hit records during his
showband career. His album "The Very Best of Glen Curtin" was
recently released on Crashed Records. Our sincere sympathies to
his family and friends. 
Community
member John McGrenra sent us an email today informing us of the
sudden death of Mainliners' trombonist Cyril McKevitt yesterday,
Sept 15th. Cyril and the Mainliners had just finished Big Tom's
2009 tour which ended Sunday, September 13th in the West County
Hotel in Ennis, Co. Clare. Kathleen Smith has written to tell us
Cyril was 69 when he passed away. Our sincere sympathies are
extended to his family, friends and members of the Mainliners. 
Terry
McCafferty sent us an email today informing us of the passing of
another member of the Clipper Carlton, drummer Mick O'Hanlon
from Strabane. His funeral will be leaving his home in
Ballindrait (outside Lifford, Co. Donegal) on Thursday, 10th
September. He will be sadly missed by all his family and friends
in the music business. Our sincere sympathies are extended to
his family and friends.
Although
he never played with an Irish showband, Les Paul, inventor of
the solid body guitar and one of the earliest innovators in
multi track recording had a profound effect of nearly every
Irish musician who picked up a guitar or recorded a song. Born
in 1915, he started playing professionally when he was only 13
and by the 30's and 40's he was one of the foremost figures in
the recording industry. With his wife Mary Ford (who passed away
in 1977) he had 36 gold records. Despite his age, Les continued
to perform a weekly session at the Iridium Club in New York
until his death. Along with Leo Fender, Les probably had more
influence on the recording and performing of music than almost
any other person over the last half century. 
Sadly,
we found out in September about the death of Martin Geraghty
last July from a member of his immediate family, Catriona
Donnelly. Martin (real name Francis) was a member of both Ian
Corrigan's Country Style as well as the Mighty Avons. In fact,
after the departure of Gene Stuart to form his own band, the
Homesteaders, Martin took over lead vocal duties with the Mighty
Avons in the mid 1970's. Martin was just 11 days shy of his 57th
birthday when he died. Our sincere sympathies are extended to
his family and friends. 
Liam
O'Reilly writes to tell us Sean Mahon of the Freshmen passed
away yesterday. 
We received news from member Liam O'Reilly
that Dave Glover passed away Monday.
The following is from Eddie McIlwaine in the Belfast Telegraph: Showman Dave Glover, who has died at 85, used to tell friends that he spent a lifetime stoking up a musical flame — because he had been born in a fire station. And the band leader who decorated ballrooms the length and breadth of Ireland — but especially the Arcadia in Portrush and the Floral Hall at Bellevue — wasn’t being funny. He was indeed born in the Ardoyne Fire Station. “I've vague memories of watching the fire engines going out with their bells ringing,” he once said. “Part of the station was converted into apartments for ex-servicemen like my dad Sam, an inspector on the trams, and my mum Eileen.” As a boy of 14 he sang in the choir at Whitehouse Parish Church and dreamed of music as a career. But his mother insisted on a trade and he became an apprentice fitter in the shipyard and later at planemakers Shorts. Eventually he and his brothers set up Roundwood Engineering which flourished for years in the city before the family sold out. But before that happened Dave had to make his mind up between engineering and bands — he chose music. “I never had any regrets about my decision although I could have become a wealthy man when Roundwood was sold,” he said. Dave was twice married to singers in his band — and divorced. His first wife was Lynne Shaw with whom he had a son David and a daughter Debra, and his second wife, Muriel Day, became a household name in 1969 when she came fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest with Wages Of Love. In recent times Dave, whose partner for 32 years was Anne Mulholland, lived quietly at Carnmnoney where he took an active interest in the music scene.
(Editor's note: Teddie Palmer tells us Dave was playing regularly with his jazz band up until last year).
The following is from Eddie McIlwaine in the Belfast Telegraph: Showman Dave Glover, who has died at 85, used to tell friends that he spent a lifetime stoking up a musical flame — because he had been born in a fire station. And the band leader who decorated ballrooms the length and breadth of Ireland — but especially the Arcadia in Portrush and the Floral Hall at Bellevue — wasn’t being funny. He was indeed born in the Ardoyne Fire Station. “I've vague memories of watching the fire engines going out with their bells ringing,” he once said. “Part of the station was converted into apartments for ex-servicemen like my dad Sam, an inspector on the trams, and my mum Eileen.” As a boy of 14 he sang in the choir at Whitehouse Parish Church and dreamed of music as a career. But his mother insisted on a trade and he became an apprentice fitter in the shipyard and later at planemakers Shorts. Eventually he and his brothers set up Roundwood Engineering which flourished for years in the city before the family sold out. But before that happened Dave had to make his mind up between engineering and bands — he chose music. “I never had any regrets about my decision although I could have become a wealthy man when Roundwood was sold,” he said. Dave was twice married to singers in his band — and divorced. His first wife was Lynne Shaw with whom he had a son David and a daughter Debra, and his second wife, Muriel Day, became a household name in 1969 when she came fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest with Wages Of Love. In recent times Dave, whose partner for 32 years was Anne Mulholland, lived quietly at Carnmnoney where he took an active interest in the music scene.
(Editor's note: Teddie Palmer tells us Dave was playing regularly with his jazz band up until last year).
We
have received several emails telling us of the death of Shay
O'Hara, former lead singer with the Royal Blues Showband.
Originally from Carlow, Shay joined the Royal Blues in 1963 when
members of Pete Brown's Band of Renown broke away to form their
own group. He sang with the band for over five years and left in
1968. Shay eventually emigrated to Australia where he settled
and lived until his death. He formed his own band down under
called the Celtic All Stars which played across the country to
Irish and Australian audiences alike. Our sympathies are
extended to his family and friends across the world.
