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Altonaires Story (1952-1980)

Photo Gallery - Band Lineups - Discography - Audio samples - Where Are They Now?

The Story

Editor's note: Every care has been taken to present only factual information in our stories based on first person reports, newspaper articles and photographic archives. If you can add anything or correct info in this story, please email us and let us know.

The first mention we can find of the Altonaires Dance Band is in November, 1952 when they were being managed by Sean Young from Rialto, Dublin. They had a date free after a cancellation. Researching the band has been strange as the first 20 and more references to them we have found are similar, adverts looking for gigs. Sean was both a member and manager of the band and played piano. We are assuming that although the band was "on the road" as early as 1952, the gigs they were getting were not large ballrooms as they were never advertised as far as we can see.

The first actual gig we have found is on January 29th, 1959 for the Pembroke Social Group's Teachers dance in Parnell Square. Through the first half 1959, this appeared to be the only gig they played so we assume they had a once-a-week residency, although adverts looking for gigs popped up every once in a a while. The only band member we have found mentioned was Jimmy Stokes,   

The above pattern remained unbroken until August 19th, 1959 when they were part of a two band session in Barry's Hotel. In November, they played in the Garda Hall in Kevin Street. In early 1960, they seemed to be spreading their wings (a little) as they moved to a Thursday night residency in the Ierne Ballroom. They were listing in adverts that they were playing places liker Lehane and Charleville, but we can't find adverts for those gigs. At this point they were a six piece band.

In October, 1960, the band played at the Dunboyne Dance Carnival in County Meath, one of the first newspaper ads for a gig we found for the band. It would be safe to say that the Altonaires were very much a Dublin band at this point and rarely ventured out of the city. 

In early 1961, the band added more venues, but almost all in Dublin, including the Crystal Ballroom and the Matt Talbot Hall. Given the quick rise to prominence of so many showbands back in the early sixties, it is strange that the Altonaires were very slow to grow, adding a few more gigs in 1962 like the Palm Beach Ballroom, but still not venturing outside Dublin. To this end, we have to assume they were part time in these early days and not willing to make the commitment to "go professional" but happy to do local gigs.

We know that between 1960 and 1963 they grew from a six piece to 8 piece outfit. By 1964, they were playing quite a few gigs outside Dublin, traveling to Cavan, Cork, Waterford and Kerry, among other places, but still playing quite a bit in their usual Dublin spots, especially the Ierne where they still played every Thursday. In March, 1964, they placed an advert in the paper looking for a sax player who doubled on clarinet, but we don't know who got the position.

The band seemed to have more or less disappeared from the national circuit in 1975, but we continued to find references to them playing gigs in Dublin as late as 1980. We have also discovered that Sean Young (keyboards), who was the leader and manager of the band, sadly passed away on September 11th, 2010. We think Jimmy Coogan left the band and started a cabaret group which appears to have played many of the major cabaret spots around Dublin from 1972 until 1979. They were called the VIPs.

We have no other info on this band yet, if you know anything, please email us. 

More to come.....

Photo Gallery

click on thumbnails for full image

Altonaires - 1952 Altonaires - 1959 Altonaires - 1960 Altonaires - 1960 Altonaires - 1960
Altonaires - 1964 Altonaires - 1964 Altonaires - 1965 (RF) Altonaires - 1965  (JB) Altonaires - 1965
Altonaires Showband Altonaires (RF) Altonaires (RF) Altonaires (RF) Altonaires (RF)
         
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Years Vocals Guitar Bass Drums Keyboards Sax Trumpet Trombone
1959 Jimmy
Stokes
      Sean
Young
     
1960-
1968
Jimmy
Coogan?
Michael
Quinn
Michael
Young
Michael
O'Reilly
Sean
Young
Jerry
O'Connor
Neil
McKenna
Liam
Heffernan
                 
Mar
 64
 sax
player left              

Discography

S - #3 Irish Charts
M

Audio Clips

         
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Coming Soon

Where Are They Now?  

Sean Young - RIP: Sean sadly passed away on September 11th, 2010.  
Joe Fitzmaurice:
Band Member:
Band Member:
Band Member:
Band Member:

 


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In Loving Memory of Grant Gallagher: Sept. 21, 1990 - Nov. 18, 2006