- Luke Kelly
Infobox Musical artist
Name = Luke Kelly
Img_capt = A portrait of Luke Kelly
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = Birth date|1940|11|17|df=yes
Died = Death date and age| 1984|01|30 | 1940|11|17
Origin =Dublin ,Ireland
Instrument =Vocals ,banjo
Voice_type =
Genre =Folk music
Occupation =Musician
Years_active = 1960s–1980s
Label =
Associated_acts =The Dubliners
URL =
Notable_instruments =Luke Kelly, (
17 November 1940 -30 January 1984 ) was an Irishsinger andfolk music ian fromDublin , Ireland, most famous as a founding member of the bandThe Dubliners .Early life
Luke Kelly was born into a
working class family inSheriff Street , a quarter of a mile from Dublin's main thoroughfare,O'Connell Street . His grandmother, who was aMcDonald fromScotland , lived with the family until her death in 1953. His father worked all his life inJacob's biscuit factory and enjoyed playing soccer. Both Luke and his brother Paddy played club GAA football andsoccer as kids. [cite book | last = Geraghty| first = Des| title = Luke Kelly: A Memoir | publisher = Basement Press| date = 1994| location = Dublin, Ireland| pages = 18-20 | url = |accessdate = 2008-22-01|id = ]He attended the Laurence O’Toole School as a child, and achieved very good grades in most subjects. In 1953 the
Dublin Corporation moved the family to Whitehall when their flat was destroyed in a fire, but he continued to attend O'Toole's by taking a bus there every day. Luke left school at thirteen and after four years of odd-jobbing, he went toEngland in 1958. Working at steel fixing with his brother Paddy on a building site inWolverhampton , he was sacked after asking for more money. He worked odd jobs from oil barrel cleaning to vacuum salesman.Musical beginnings
The first folk club he came across was in
Newcastle upon Tyne in early 1960. Having already acquired the use of abanjo , he started memorising songs. InLeeds he brought his banjo to sessions in McReady's pub and was often to be seen at Communist Party headquarters. The folk revival was under way in England: at the centre of it wasEwan MacColl who scripted a radio programme called "Ballads and Blues". Theskiffle craze had also injected a certain energy into folk singing.Luke started
busking . On a trip home he went to a "fleadh cheoil " inMiltown Malbay on the advice ofJohnny Moynihan . He listened to recordings ofWoody Guthrie andPete Seeger . As he sought out the musician in himself, he also developed his political convictions which, asRonnie Drew pointed out after his death, he stuck to throughout his life. As Ronnie also pointed out, he learned to sing with perfect diction.He befriended Sean Mulready in
Birmingham and lived in his home for a period. A teacher who was run out of his job in Dublin over his communist beliefs, he also had strong music links. A sister, Kathleen Moynihan was a founder member ofComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann . He was related by marriage to Festy Conlon, theCo. Galway whistle player. His wife's brother, Ned Stapleton, taught Luke "TheRocky Road to Dublin ".Luke bought his first banjo, a five-string, started a lifelong habit of consummate reading and even took up golf - on one of Birmingham's municipal courses. He got involved in the Jug O'Punch folk club run by Ian Campbell. He befriended
Dominic Behan and they performed in folk clubs and Irish pubs fromLondon toGlasgow . In London pubs like The Favourite he would hear street singer Margaret Barry and musicians in exile like Roger Sherlock,Seamus Ennis , Bobby Casey and Mairtín Byrnes.Luke Kelly was by now active in the Connolly Association, a
left-wing grouping strongest among the exiles in England. His political development was significant. It gave edge and conviction to his performance and lent weight to The Dubliners' repertoire at a time when the youth in Ireland were breaking away from Civil War politics. He was also to start frequenting Ewan MacColl andPeggy Seeger 's Singer Club in London.The Dubliners
In 1961 there was a boom in waiting in Ireland. The Abbey Tavern sessions in
Howth were the forerunner to sessions in the Hollybrook,Clontarf , the International Bar and the Grafton Cinema. Luke Kelly returned to Dublin in 1962.O'Donoghue's Pub was already established as a session house and soon Luke was singing with among othersRonnie Drew andBarney McKenna . Other early people playing at O'Donoghues includedThe Fureys , father and sons, John Keenan and Sean Og McKenna, Johnny Moynihan and Mairtin Byrnes.A concert John Molloy organised in the Hibernian Hotel led to his Ballad Tour of Ireland with the Ronnie Drew Ballad Group. (Billed in one town as the Ronnie Drew Ballet Group). The success trail led to the Abbey Tavern and the Royal Marine Hotel and then to jam-packed sessions in the Embankment,
Tallaght .Ciaran Bourke joined the group, followed later byJohn Sheahan . They called themselvesThe Dubliners .In 1964 Luke Kelly left the group for nearly two years and was replaced by Bobby Lynch. With
Deirdre O'Connell , founder of theFocus Theatre , whom he was to marry the following year, he went back to London and became involved in Ewan MacColl's "gathering". The Critics, as it was called, was formed to explore folk traditions and help young singers. Luke Kelly greatly admired MacColl and saw his time with The Critics as an apprenticeship. "It functioned as a kind of self-help group to develop each other's potential," said Peggy Seeger.Bobby Lynch left The Dubliners and Luke rejoined. They recorded an album in Cecil Sharpe House, London, played the
Cambridge Folk Festival and recorded "Irish Night Out", a live album with, among other, exiles Margaret Barry, Michael Gorman and Jimmy Powers. They also played a concert in the National Stadium in Dublin with, to Luke's delight, Pete Seeger as special guest. They were on the road to success: Top Twenty hits with "Seven Drunken Nights " and "The Black Velvet Band ", theEd Sullivan Show in 1968 and a tour ofNew Zealand andAustralia . The ballad boom in Ireland was becoming increasingly commercialised with publicans building even larger venues for pay-in performances. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on a visit to Dublin expressed concern to Luke about his drinking.Christy Moore became a friend after they met in 1967. During hisPlanxty days he got to know Luke particularly well. "Mind you at that time I think his best singing days were over. I think Luke ran out of steam in The Dubliners as a singer. I've heard tapes of him singing as a younger man and he was wonderful"Luke took to the stage, surprising many with his performance as King Herod in "Jesus Christ Superstar ". In 1972 The Dubliners themselves performed in "Richard's Cork Leg", based on the "incomplete works" ofBrendan Behan .The arrival of a new manager for The Dubliners,
Derry composerPhil Coulter , resulted in a collaboration that produced two of Luke's most notable performances: “The Town I Loved So Well ” and “Scorn Not His Simplicity ” (a song about Phil's handicapped son). Luke had such respect for the song that he only performed it once for a television recording and rarely, if ever, sang it at the Dubliners' often boisterous concerts.His interpretations of “
Raglan Road ” and “Scorn Not His Simplicity” were significant musical achievements and became points of reference in Irish folk music. His version of “Raglan Road” came about when the poem's author,Patrick Kavanagh , heard him singing in a pub in Dublin city then called the Bailey, and approached him to say that he should sing the poem (which is set to the tune of “Dawning Of The Day ”). Kelly remained a politically engaged musician, and many of the songs he recorded dealt with social issues, thearms race and war, workers' rights and Irish nationalism, ("The Springhill Disaster", "Second World Song", "Joe Hill", "The Button Pusher", "Alabama 1958" and "God Save Ireland" all being examples of his concerns). In the socially and politically conservative atmosphere of the Republic of Ireland at the time, this was notable.Final years
On
30 June 1980 during a concert in theCork Opera House Luke Kelly collapsed on the stage. He had already suffered for some time from headaches and forgetfulness, which however had been ascribed to his alcohol consumption. Abrain tumour was diagnosed. Although Kelly toured with the Dubliners after enduring an operation, his health deteriorated further. He forgot lyrics and had to take longer breaks in concerts as he felt weak. On his European tour in autumn 1983 he came off the stage inTraun ,Austria and again inMannheim ,Germany . Shortly after he had to cancel the tour of southern Germany and after a short stay in hospital in Heidelberg was flown back to Dublin. After another operation he spent Christmas with his family but was taken into hospital again in the New Year, where he died on30 January 1984 . His gravestone inGlasnevin Cemetery , Dublin, bears the inscription: "Luke Kelly - Dubliner ".Legacy
Luke Kelly remains a Dublin icon and his music is widely regarded as one of the city's cultural treasures. He united Dubliners in their appreciation of their own music and street songs and, years later, when the City Council was divided along Civil War lines over the naming of a new bridge over the
River Tolka , the councillors quickly united asTony Gregory proposed that it be named after Luke Kelly.The
Ballybough Bridge in the north inner city of Dublin has been renamed the "Luke Kelly Bridge" and in November 2004, the Dublin city council voted unanimously to erect abronze statue of Luke Kelly. [ [http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1102/kellyl.html Council Backs Statue] ] The location for the statue had not yet been decided upon.References
Bibliography
*"Luke Kelly: a Memoir",
Des Geraghty , ISBN 1-85594-090-6
*"Ar Bhruacha na Life", Des Geraghty, - 23-5-07 135585 www.tg4.ie - En sub.wmv (Déanann Des Geraghty, fear amhrán agus feadóige, ceiliúradh ar an lucht ceoil i mBaile Átha Cliath).External links
* [http://www.iol.ie/~ronolan/luke_kelly.html Biography at "Ramblinghouse"]
* [http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/5863 'Ahern lends support to Kelly memorial'] 31 December 2004
*http://uk.youtube.com/kellyoneill
*http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-501647685464276780
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