Rathcoole (Newtownabbey) - Notable People From Rathcoole

Notable People From Rathcoole

• One of Northern Ireland's leading musicians and composers John Anderson grew up at 60 Rathcoole Drive. He is better known as the leader of the popular 'John Anderson Big Band'. In 1989 the John Anderson Big Band was featured on four number one hit singles under the guise of Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Most recently the stage show 'On Eagles Wings', the story of the Scotch-Irish or Ulster-Scots journey from Ulster to America in the early 17th century, was written and composed by him. It was broadcast on over 300 television stations in the USA and subsequently in Australia. In the mid-1980s, however, he was appointed Executive Producer at Ulster Television (UTV) in Belfast where he helped produce a number of local Light Entertainment programmes. In the 1990s Anderson helped to popularise 'School Choir of the Year', which eventually attracted more than 10,000 young singers from across Northern Ireland and became the biggest event of its kind in Europe. The result is broadcasted yearly on UTV. He currently has his own Sunday afternoon radio programme on BBC Radio Ulster playing all genres of music, including classical, rock, swing, choral and popular.

• Ex-Northern Ireland national football team and Queen's Park Rangers F.C. (QPR) football captain Alan McDonald was born in Rathcoole. He lived at Doonbeg Drive, located at the northern edge of the area.

• Former Northern Ireland national football team footballer Billy Hamilton, who scored twice for his country at the 1982 FIFA World Cup 1982 World Cup finals.

• The award-winning Northern Irish author and playwright Gary Mitchell is from Dunowen Pass. Mitchell attended Rathcoole Primary School where his grandfather, the late Harry Moreland, was caretaker throughout the 1970s/1980s. One of Mitchell's plays about Rathcoole featured budding Dublin-born actor Colin Farrell.

• Ex-Northern Ireland International and Manchester United football player Jimmy Nicholl lived at 25 Drumcor Green and attended Rathcoole Secondary School, which was directly opposite his house.

• The actress Kathy Brolly, who appeared in the BBC drama Life On Mars (2006) and Lynda La Plante's drama Killer Net (1998), amongst other film and television productions, is a former Rathcoole resident. She resided at Glencoole House, one of the four multi-story flats that tower over Rathcoole located near The Diamond shopping precinct in the area.

• Two founder members of the alternative rock band Four Idle Hands come from Rathcoole. The McMahon brothers originally come from Gortmore Terrace at the north-western edge of the estate. Their relatives still reside in Rathcoole, including sister Sandra Campbell and an elder brother. The band had a comparative following on the Ulster music scene. They released 99 Streets/Friday Man 72 (1990), and the Blind EP 12" (4 track EP) (1991) on Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations label based in Belfast.

• Northern Ireland International and Manchester United football player Jonny Evans lived in Rathcoole.

• Provisional IRA hunger striker and one-time Westminster MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Bobby Sands, is originally from Doonbeg Drive. He was born at nearby Abbots Cross Garden Village, Doagh Road.

• Sands' former Provisional IRA associate Jim Gibney is also from Rathcoole. He and his family resided at Foyle Hill. Gidney is one of Sinn Féin's senior strategists. He is also a regular columnist for the Northern Ireland nationalist daily newspaper, the Irish News.

• Michael McAdam, the founder and owner of the successful Northern Ireland 'Movie House' cinemas chain, is from Rathcoole.

• Northern Irish rapper, Jun Tzu, was born and raised in Rathcoole before moving to Manchester.

• Acclaimed poet, Adrian Rice, was brought up in Rathcoole. He was raised in 196 Derrycoole Way. He went to school at Whitehouse PS, and then on to Ballyclare High School. Now living in North Carolina, Rice's new book of poems - The Clock Flower (2012) - has a notable section on his Rathcoole childhood, entitled 'Eleventh Night'.