Boys N' Girls Gallery (1973-75)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
Boy's
n' Girls appeared on the scene in September, `1973 and would disappear nearly as
quickly but for a short time, they were touted as Ireland's answer
to the Mamas and Papas and Carpenters.
The first mention of the band we
could find was in February, 1974 when they released their first
single, "Don't Walk Out."
The band hit the road when Finnie Thomas (bass), Jim Dalton (guitar) and drummer
Donie Trautt left the Tuam-based Fleet to form a new band.
They recruited Andy Dunne (formerly with Mitch and the Editions) on
keyboards and instead of brass, added two girl singers, Yvonne
Kennedy from Poteen and newcomer Linda Edge. The band was
managed by Peter Dempsey and signed to Release Talent which spent
quite a bit of money promoting the band over the second half of
1974.
In
the July 4th issue of Spotlight it was reported that the band had
released it's first single, She Looked Me In the Eye, which
had been the Israeli entry in the 1974 Eurovision song contest, but
beaten by Abba's song "Waterloo." The B-side was Please Don't Go,
a song written by Brian O'Brien. It was also touted that the single
was being released in the USA and Canada, but we can't confirm
whether this ever happened.
The
July 11th issue of Spotlight carried photos of the band in Trend
Studios recording the single mentioned above. It also reported that
they would be back in the studios the following week to record the
balance of songs for their first album.
A regular feature at this time in every issue of Spotlight was the
"Release Roundup" which was a page sponsored by Release Talent. It
continued to report the band was "doing good business" and talked of
a follow up single coming soon.
Sometime during this period Andy
Dunne left the band and was replaced by Stewart Bradley from Derry.
As far as we know this was the only change in the lineup during the
band's brief history. In November, it was announced that the group
was up for an RMI award for top group, although the award was won by
The Times. There was also a report that they were writing their own
music and preparing to do more recording.
In January, 1975, it was announced
that the band was heading to Canada for a six week tour. It was also
reported they had release the song, Minnie, Minnie, Minnie
for the US market, although we can't confirm this happened.
February saw an announcement that the band was in Canada, but before
leaving Ireland, they had recorded more tracks which would finish
complete
their first album, due to be released in May upon their return from
Canada. Julie Boyd reported receiving a letter from keyboard player,
Stewart, from Canada in her weekly column on April 24th.
In the meantime, back in Ireland,
John McKenna, the original bass play with the Magic Band left in
March, 1975 and was replaced by Finnie Thomas. I know this
personally as I had to rehearse the band's songs with Finnie. It is unclear whether Finnie left the band
prior to their Canadian tour or whether the band had broken up at
this point. However, Julie Boyd reported in her column of May 29th
that the band had, in fact, disbanded.
We are unsure what happened to the
other members of the band, we will try and find out more. Sadly, we
know that Finnie Thomas, Jim Dalton, and Andy Dunne have all passed
away.
More to come.....
click on thumbnails for full image
