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At 73, Ronnie Drew “father figure of the Dubliners” recently lost his two year

fight against throat cancer. Three days later he was laid to rest in Redford Cemetery in Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Over 1,500 people attended his funeral, a fitting tribute to a much loved, highly respected, deeply intelligent man whose popularity at home and abroad has seen him referred to as “the King of Ireland”.

It was in 1992 when I first met Ronnie, a young reporter with the BBC I went to interview him in Inverness after a Friday night Dubliners show on their ‘30 Years A Greying Tour’. Already achieving success by the time I was born, I had grown up aware of their music but had never seen them play. And that first meeting was memorable, blurring into an after gig party to which I was invited with my fiddle. Three days of gigs and parties later I returned to work with eight hours of tunes and banter recorded but by then, it seemed it would have been an invasion of the privacy of that new friendship to broadcast the material. Somehow the tapes were ‘lost’ until sixteen years later, following Ronnie’s passing, I listened to them again.

Ronnie talking of his pleasure at being back in Scotland, his warm memories of friends the Corries, Paddy Bell, Nadia Catthouse, Billy Connolly, Ray and Archie Fisher. Acknowledging how privileged he felt he had been to have made so many lasting friendships through music. Then his voice, Ronnie talked with a genuine modesty, almost amazement about the ‘notoriety’ of his trademark ‘dulcet tones’. Pausing to draw on his cigar, he’d go on in the lowest, thickest of gravely Dublin accents, peppering his conversation with dry sarcastic wit, sharing jokes with me at his own expense.

Delivering his songs with the greatest feeling and conviction, such a powerful singer, Ronnie’s voice was once described as the sound of coke being crushed under a door. Talking to me in that first meeting and on occasions in later years, at times he seemed almost bemused, ‘shy’ about his

success and popularity. In his eyes, he seemed to see himself as nothing particularly special but this very grounded, self-effacing modesty was just another part of his appeal. For Ronnie and indeed all the Dubliners, I think their success has much to do with ‘what you see is what you get’. No airs, no graces, amazingly talented musicians but still, just a very down to earth bunch of the friendliest people. In watching them you become part of the Dubliners experience. You see a band who clearly enjoy what they do, who have come together to play and entertain. An incredibly successful touring band, the Dubliners possess that ‘feel good factor’ which leaves their audience elated and always wanting more.

Along the way, yes, there have been a few marketing specialists who wanted to ‘tinker’ with the group. Proposals have included

a suggestion for a ‘band uniform’ but the thought alone is laughable and such comments have brought the briefest, non too polite of refusals. For these lads, they are ‘the real deal’ and their fans like them as they are, a group which has achieved and sustained commendable success for over forty years at the top of their profession. But looking back now, for Ronnie Drew, known as “the Daddy of the band” – how did his story all begin?

The son of a carpenter, when Ronnie was born it was into an already over-crowded council house in Dún Laoghaire and, because of the space problems, he was raised mostly at his nearby grandmother’s house. From a somewhat unmemorable education in the Christian Brother’s school (where he was given no musical encouragement) there then followed a succession

Obituary

RONNIE DREW: 16.09.34 – 16.08.08

of short-lived jobs. Washing dishes, selling vacum cleaners, cleaning railway carriages and in 1955, a short spell in London working as a lift boy before returning to Ireland to work as a telephone operator.

People joke that Ronnie did not like jobs of the a.m. variety but for sure, he was a ‘hard-grafter’. This array of jobs might seem a strange apprenticeship for the international success he was to have in his future but for Ronnie, he was laying down an important foundation in his experience of life as an Irish emigrant. For the Irish away from home, Ronnie would go on to become the singer whose voice, songs and stories embodied the emigrant’s experience. Ronnie knew about periods of unemployment, what it was like to be away from home in a strange country struggling to make a living. Yet, from one of these passing jobs came an opportunity for his personal development.

During nightshifts as a telephone operator, to pass the time, Ronnie began to read. Perhaps this awakened in him a deeper desire for learning combined with a desire to expand his own horizons. Whatever the reason, as a young man, he travelled to Spain and found work teaching English to the children of wealthy Spaniards. At the same time, he became fluent in Spanish and taught himself to play Flamenco guitar. Three years passed and, in Dublin for the summer, at a party he was overheard telling stories. A captivating performer, John Molloy suggested Ronnie perform a spot at the Gate Theatre where he worked. In Spain, Ronnie had worked as an extra on the film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and this new opportunity appealed to him. Taking up his new job, Ronnie met banjo player Barney McKenna and singer Luke Kelly.

Hard to imagine but at that time in Ireland, it was actually rare to hear music in pubs. Needing somewhere to rehearse, the lads were given special dispensation from Paddy O’Donoghue to play in his pub in Merrion Row. The music was well received and quickly created a stir. Coming together,

to drink and swap songs, a fourth musician joined them, singer and tin whistle player Ciarán Bourke. Hearing the friends play, John Molloy devised a show for the Gate Theatre based on their music ‘A Ballad Tour of Ireland’. Requiring a name for the band they were billed as the Ronnie Drew Ballad Group (and not the Ronnie Drew Ballet Group as one paper mis-printed it). At Ronnie’s suggestion, the name was later changed in honour of the James Joyce book ‘The Dubliners’ which Luke Kelly was reading. Regular shows at the Abbey Tavern in Howth followed and during one interval, singer Bob Lynch and fiddler John Sheahan performed and were then asked to finish of the show with the rest of the band. The building of the Dubliners enduring line-up was well underway.

Regular gigs and the formation of new relationships continued. In 1963, Ronnie married Deirdre McCartan. Daughter of an Irish politician, Deirdre had a stabilising influence on Ronnie and they went on to build a family raising daughter Cliodhna and son Phelim. Ronnie enjoyed performing but found the long separations from his wife and family increasingly difficult. In the 1992 interview, he talked a lot of missing his family but also, how pleased he was to be back in Scotland and able to catch up again with his many friends here. He recalled, in 1963, when the Dubliners first came to Scotland to perform at the Edinburgh Festival and things took of for them.

A number of appearances were made on a series of BBC programmes recorded from the Howff. The following year the group performed in ‘The Hootenananny Ballads and Blues Show’ in Dublin. In light of the band’s growing success it was then decision time for John Sheahan. Bob Lynch joined and John too, finally quitting his “well-paid, pensionable job” to play full-time with the group.

More success followed. In 1967, despite being banned by RTE, ‘Seven Drunken Nights’, topped the Irish charts and reached number 5 in Britain. The song they had got from the renowned sean-nós singer, Seosamh Ó hÉanaigh. Although the English translation was banned, Ó hÉanaigh’s version in Gaelic incurred no such sanction. In the same year, ‘Black Velvet Band’ reached the British top twenty. Twenty years later, still

going strong, they recorded The Irish Rover in collaboration with the Pogues. It reached number 7 in the British Charts and then ‘The Rose’, with Hot House Flowers in 1992, reached number 2 in the Irish Charts.

Throughout the Dubliners story other key personalities have stepped in and out including Jim McCann, Sean Cannon, Eamonn Campbell and Paddy Reilly. Sadly too, there has been the passing of much loved friends, Bob Lynch in 1982, Luke Kelly in 1984 and Ciarán Bourke in 1988. Although the name Ronnie Drew is always linked with The Dubliners, there were also many times when he chose to pursue a solo career outwith the group before finally leaving in 1996. Indeed, Ronnie recorded and toured with many artists including the Hothouse Flowers, Stockton’s Wing, De Dannan, Donal Lunny, Giles Servat, Antonio Breschi and Jah Wobble. In addition, Ronnie produced numerous solo recordings, even continuing to work in his illness.

Ronnie’s first solo recording in 1978 was ‘Guaranteed Dubliner’. In 1995 ‘Dirty Rotten Shame’ featured songs written for him by Bono, Elvis Costello and Shane McGowan. In 1998, he released ‘The Humour Is On Me Now’ and in 2002 ‘Recordings with Eleanor Shanley’. In 2005 ‘An Evening with Ronnie Drew and Mike Hanrahan’ followed with other releases ‘There’s Life In The Old Dog Yet’ and ‘El Amor De Mi Vida’ featuring songs by Nick Cave, Neil Young and Tom Waits. With Jazz guitarist Hugh Buckley, he also recorded ‘Pearls’. Ronnie’s breadth and variety of material shows he was not someone to be pigeon holed in any one genre and, in addition to his music, he also possessed a tremendous love and talent for the theatre.

In the 1970s Ronnie had parts in ‘Richard’s Cork Leg’, by Brendan Behan. At the Peacock Theatre he appeared in Sean O’Casey’s ‘Purple Dust’, at the Gaiety Theatre in ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ and in other shows including ‘Sleeping Babes, Babes in the Wood’ and in ‘Bells of Hell’. With Mike Hanrahan, ex-Stockton’s Wing frontman, Ronnie wrote and performed in the critically acclaimed ‘Ronnie I Hardly Knew Ya’. The show ran for eight weeks in Dublin, was followed by a nationwide tour, shows in the UK and a successful appearance

in Edinburgh at the 1988 Fringe Festival plus performances too in Europe, America and Israel.

Despite his busy life, Ronnie also found time to indulge his love for horse-riding and horses. To his delight, at the Dublin Horse Show, two of his horses won prizes and, recognised for his horsemanship, Ronnie was made an honorary member of the mounted section of the New York Police Department. In 2006, he was further honoured when Ronnie was chosen to be Grand Marshal of the Dublin city St Patrick’s Day parade.

When Ronnie’s illness became apparent in 2006, he bravely fought it and chose to work on. However, it was a particularly serious blow for him when Deirdre, his wife of over 40 years died in 2007 after a very short illness. Supported by his friends and family, Ronnie continued on and earlier this year, in a very special tribute, many of his musical friends came together to honour him. The Dubliners and artists including, Bono, Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor released ‘The Ballad of Ronnie Drew’ (which can

be seen on You tube). At the same time of day, across Ireland on both National and Regional radio stations the song was aired and at Ronnie’s request, all profits went to the Irish Cancer Society.

In his lifetime Ronnie became a legend and achieved so much in so many different areas of his life. Yet to his credit, he never forgot his humble beginnings and learnt from the difficulties he experienced on his way. For The Dubliners who continue to play, of course, the name Ronnie Drew will always be synonymous with the group whose formation and early years of success he so greatly contributed to. At his funeral, the note accompanying The Dubliners floral tribute read “to Dear Ronnie, your voice is silent, but your spirit lives on.” Across the world, the ‘Daddy of the Dubliners’ will be fondly remembered by his friends and family. And, for this remarkable Dubliner, his lifetime contribution to music and the arts continues on. Ronnie’s enduring legacy, there to be discovered and appreciated for generations to come.

Shona McMillan