Pluto Feature (1973-1990)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
The story of this Killybegs-based band started in the summer of
1973. Paul and Jody Gallagher along with John Joe McBrearty were
schoolmates at Holy Cross College in Falcarragh and wanted to start a
band. They drafted drummer Steven "Nobby"
Dorrian from the Killybegs A.O.H. Accordion Band and the final piece
of the puzzle was added when local singer Mary Cannon joined as lead
vocalist. They soon earned a summer residency on Wednesdays in
Fintra House in their home town and were "on the road."
The first reference to them we could find for a regular "gig" was in
the The Shamrock Inn in Donegal Town on September 7th. In December,
the band then entered the Pepsi-Cola All-Ireland Super Group Competition
and would win their way through to the finals of the competition in Seezer's (also spelled as Caesar's) Palace in Dublin in March, 1974.
By this time the original line-up had been augmented with fiddler,
Michael O'Rourke" as they expanded their repertoire to include some
Celtic rock (which has been inspired by bands like Horslips and
Mushroom a few years earlier).
They would end up winning the
contest over several Dublin-based groups and took home £550, as well
as a recording session at Eamon Andrews Studios. The win would make
them instant stars in their hometown of Killybegs and they were soon
playing gigs all around Donegal County. Our search of the newspaper
archives found a number of gigs for the band up until August 1974 at
which point they seemed to stop.
The next reference we could find
for the band was in December, 1975 when an article about the Rascals
(led by Ted Ponsonby) reported that the band had been joined by ex-Pluto leader, Paul
Gallagher, on keyboards. We assume from this that the band broke up
in late 1974, however, the story does not end there.
In September, 1977 it was
announced that John McGovern, at that time the manager of the
aforementioned Rascals, would also be managing a "new band" called
New Horizons which was formed by Paul Gallagher and his now wife,
Mary Gallagher. It was also reported that the band would include
Paul's "two brothers" and Patricia O'Boyle on keyboards. The article
(below) also reported that the band was changing its name to The
Supremes because of another band called Horizons from by Billy Jo. Interestingly, the "Supremes" did not last long as by
December the band was back using the name "Pluto."
The band would continue playing
locally for the next year, although with a new keyboard player as Patricia
left and with former band member Steve Dorrian, they both join the
Fairways band which was now based in Sligo. She was replaced by
"Flash Deehan." In 1979, the band was signed by Meglo
Management and released their first single, "Mr. Wonderful" on the
short-lived Meglo Record label. The new relationship with Meglo gave
them the chance to be heard by a wider audience and they accompanied
international stars, Showaddywaddy, on their Irish tour in 1979.
The band would go off the road yet
again at the end of 1980 as the continuing dwindling number of gigs
caused problems for all the bands across the country. However, they
were back a few months later in March of 1981 although with several
line-up changes. Just as an aside, often newspaper article got names
and instruments confused and often line-up announcements via reports
in papers were incorrect. According to the report in the
Donegal News Jodie was now playing keyboards, Damien Doherty
was playing bass and another Gallagher brother, Fintan, was on
drums. We will do our best to confirm this. In early 1981 the band
also played some of their first gigs outside of Donegal (based on
newspaper adverts) journeying to Mayo and Northern Ireland. They
also recorded a new original single called "Get Outta' My Life" in
Ace Studios in Sligo and released it on the Sunset Record Label. They
were now being managed by local man, Vernon Kelly.
We could only find one reference
to their second single in March, 1982 when it was "receiving
airplay" on RTE 2 radio which means its release may have been
delayed for almost a year. Another change was reported in that
article (see below) which is that Sean Deehan was back in the band,
this time on drums. At the same time, they appeared on the Late
Late Show as well as Gerry Ryan's Non-Stop Pop.
In April, 1983 the band released a
new single (their third) "Sad Song" on the
Rainbow label. Despite continuing airplay and positive reviews, the
band was still not able to break out of the "northern circuit"
which was mainly in and around Donegal. However, they were one of the
busiest bands on that circuit, a trend which would continue for the
next few years. The band remained extremely busy, but did not
release any singles for awhile.
In late 1987, a major split
occurred when Paul and Mary left the band to start a country
outfit called Rhinestone. Pluto drafted a new lead singer from
Dublin named Paul Ellis and Eamon Lynch from Strabane on guitar to
replace the band's founding members.
However, the story was not yet
finished. In October, 1988, Mary B and Paul rejoined the band and
another "New Pluto" was born.
This new incarnation was sometimes advertised as "Mary B and Pluto."
The band signed with Dublin's Joe McCadden Productions and were soon
doing very well outside Donegal playing as far away as Wexford,
Limerick, Kilkenny and much of the "deep South." In May, 1989, they
released another original single, "Irresistible" written by Mary.
Based on our research, it appears
that the end of the band was on the horizon. The last advert for
them playing as Pluto we found was in January, 1990. Later that year
an article in the Donegal Democrat said Paul was playing with the
Brendan Magee band and Mary B was described as Pluto's "former lead
singer."
Although never a household name
across the entire country, Pluto was representative of so many bands
that achieved massive regional success and often flirted with
becoming a nationwide hit, but never quite made the transition to
the "big time."
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