Real McCoy Photo Gallery
(1968-1975)
The band was formed in 1968, following a
terrible traffic accident in which several members of The
Greenbeats were injured and in which band mate Paul Williams
lost his life. The Greenbeats called it quits, but Eddie
Campbell (guitar), Dave Pennefeather (drums) and Keith Donald
(sax) decided to form another band and set out to find the right
musicians to make up The Real McCoy.
They found them in Liam McKenna (bass) from
Dublin beat group, The Creatures, and who would later join
The Memories when bassist Daire Doyle was injured (but he reverted
to guitar and stayed with the band upon Daire's return). They also
recruited Kevin McAlea (younger brother of Des "Lee") on keyboards
and Mike O'Brien, who had been singing on the Dublin group scene to
front the band.
The six piece band was set and soon established
themselves as one of Ireland's first true "pop" bands. Their first
single, I Get So Excited, was released in late 1968 and
reached number 10 in the Irish Charts, a great introduction for any
band. However, their second single, Quick Joey Small was a
smash hit, reaching number 1 just before Christmas, 1968 and staying
on the charts for 13 weeks. The band were firmly establish as one of
the top bands in the country and went from strength to strength.
In mid-1969, they added trumpet player, Dave
Coady to the lineup to both fill out the sound and bolster their
vocal sound as Dave had previously handle lead vocals for several
other showbands. Their first release with Dave on lead vocals was
Many The Memories and it also a hit, entering the charts on
November 20, 1969 and topping out at Number 4.
In 1970, the band was shaken up when Mike
O'Brien decided to leave and join with the Freshmen's Billy Brown to
form Brown and O'Brien. To fill the hole left by Mike's
departure, they recruited a young female vocalist who had previously
been with The Mexicans and Jim Farley's Big Band named
Tina Reynolds. Tina's good looks, excellent stage presence and great
vocals gave a new dimension to the previously all male band's sound.
It didn't take long for her to make her mark as her single, I
Don't Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar hit the
number one spot in the Irish charts in late 1971. Although the band
would release several more singles in 1972 and 1973 (two would enter
the lower regions of the charts), none would have the impact of
Tina's initial offering.
The band continued to do great business, but it
all came to a crashing halt on a country road outside Portlaoise in
1973. The band was involved in a head on collision in which Tina
suffered multiple injuries, the most serious of which was to her
neck. She would remain in hospital for five weeks in intensive care.
Keith McDonald was also seriously injured but both would make a full
recovery. In the meantime though, the band called it quits and the
musicians went their separate ways.
In late 1973, Mike O'Brien return from Canada
after leaving Brown and
O'Brien and set about reforming The Real McCoy
who were off the road. He tapped several members of Paul Lyttle's Lyttle People, who were left
behind when Linda Martin
and Paul left to reform Original Chips. The new members were:
Jimmy Compton (drums), Liam Taggart (guitar), Barry Woods
(keyboards), Alan Holland (bass) and Mike on vocals. The
final piece in the puzzle was Gay Brazel (guitar/pedal steel) who
would later join Tweed.
The reformed Real McCoy did a relatively nice
business, but never attained the drawing power of their early days. After about six months, Barry left and
keyboardist Ray Donnan came into the band. Shortly thereafter, Jimmy
was replaced on drums by a mate of Ray's from Belfast.
More to come.......
click on thumbnails for full image
Discography (more to come)
I Get So Excited (Mike O'Brien) -
#10 Irish Charts
Target Records - Unknown - September, 1968
Quick Joey Small (Mike O'Brien) -
#1 Irish Charts
Target Records - 7N.17669 - December, 1968
Round The Green Tree (Mike O'Brien) -
#9 Irish Charts
Target Records - 7N.17669 - February, 1969
Many The Memories (Dave Coady) -
#4 Irish Charts
Target Records - 7N.17669 - February, 1969
I'll Give You Things (Dave Coady)
Target Records - - December, 1970
I Don't Know How To Love Him (Tina)
- #1 Irish Charts
Ruby Records - November, 1971
Tell Me What's The Matter (Tina) -
#15 Irish Charts
Ruby Records - June, 1972
When Morning Has Come (Tina) -
#20 Irish Charts
Polydor Records - May, 1973
Audio Clips
Coming Soon
Where Are They Now?
(coming soon)
