Charlie and The Bhoys

Charlie and the Bhoys are a Celtic/Irish band from Scotland and Ireland. The band played their first concert at the Squirrel Bar near the Gallowgate, Glasgow in 1989. The band brand themselves as "The World's No.1 Celtic Band" and have enjoyed some success in this role, having played to audiences across the world including Glasgow, New York, Dubai, Sydney, Singapore and other cities in North America, Australia, Europe and all across the UK and Ireland.

The band's name is derived from the nickname for Celtic Football Club, which most of their music celebrates. Celtic legend Billy McNeill gave the band its name whilst placing an ad for its performance in his pub McNeill's in the south side of Glasgow. At that time the band didn't have a name and Billy could only remember that one of the band's members was called Charlie (Charlie Boyle the old drummer who now lives in Donegal, Ireland).

The biggest turn-out the band has had so far was in Seville, Prado De San Sebastian where an estimated 15,000 turned out the night before Celtic's UEFA Cup final with FC Porto. The only time the band appear in Glasgow these days is at the famous Glasgow Barrowlands venue twice per year, Good Friday and September weekend.

Famous songs by Charlie and the Bhoys include: Willie Maley, Raised on Celtic, Inter Milan, Bhoys Against Bigotry (a sarcastic tribute to a controversial campaign by Celtic under Fergus McCann) and the tribute to Tommy Burns - Our Friend Tommy Burns which can be found on the latest album "What The Hell Do We Care".

Charity work

In September 2008 Charlie and the Bhoys raised a 5 figure sum at Glasgow Barrowlands for the T10 Skin Cancer Charity which was set up by the family of Tommy Burns after his long battle skin cancer. The band, along with European Cup winners Bertie Auld and Tommy Gemmell are currently helping raise money for the Prince of Wales hospice in Glasgow. In New York the band also helped raised $5000 dollars playing for various NYCSCs which was donated to the Glasgow Hospice. In June 2009 the band raised money for the Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust with the Barrhead Knights of St.Coumba Club and the following night in Elgin helped raise money for Leukaemia with the Moray Emerald Celtic Supporters Club.

They played at the 2010 Celtic Convention in Santa Ponsa, Majorca in the Spanish Square: thanks to the Celts Well bar and toured Australia in October doing four cities in four nights with Celtic legend Bertie Auld: Perth (Thu), Melbourne (Fri), Sydney (Sat) and Brisbane (Sun) then headed to New Zealand for the first time ever to play in Auckland.

The band have five members; Jimmy, Rab, Frankie, Tam and Michael. They also have 10 albums to date and one DVD.

External links

• Official website