Irish Showband - History

History

Strabane's Clipper Carlton are credited with popularising the showband. Fronted by Fergie O'Hagan, they were originally a touring big band. They later became popular in Britain and on the U.S. and Canadian Irish club circuit. Brendan Bowyer, Tom Dunphy and the Royal Showband from Waterford toured professionally around 1958, and became a crowd-drawing success. They were managed by the promotor T.J. Byrne and were the first band to have a record enter the Irish charts. Tom Dunphy sang the country hit "Come Down The Mountain, Katie Daley". Later, Brendan Bowyer had a hit with "The Hucklebuck", an American recording from the 1940s. The Freshmen from Ballymena, Antrim, led by Billy Brown and Derek Dean, combined to produce harmonies on their covers of hits by The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Dickie Rock performed mainly big ballads. Starting out with Dublin's Melochords, he became a star with the Miami Showband, and later represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. The Witnesses featured Dublin's Colm Wilkinson, later to achieve success in lead roles in The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.

A second wave of speciality bands emerged in the late sixties and early seventies. The 'second wave' bands were young proponents of a rock, blues and soul style wave celebrated in Roddy Doyle's book The Commitments. These bands included The Dreams, The Real McCoy, The Arrows and The Chessmen. They were most popular in urban areas, while Country and Western bands were generally more popular in the rural areas of the country. Big Tom and the Mainliners and Larry Cunningham and the Mighty Avons were a huge summer marquee carnival dance draws alongside Margo, Philomena Begley and Brendan Shine. Several internationally successful Irish musicians began their careers with showbands, including Van Morrison, Henry McCullough, Mick Hanly and Rory Gallagher.

The Miami Showband killings in 1975 hastened the decline in popularity of the showbands. Cross-border band touring dropped significantly. The advent of the discothèque, the opening of music-lounges (with alcohol licenses) and changing musical tastes also played a large role in its demise.