Woodpeckers Photo Gallery (1959-)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
The first mention of Dundalk's Woodpeckers Showband we can find is
in late 1959 when an advert appeared in the Dance Band section of
the Irish Independent looking to fill dates in 1960. They first
advertised themselves as the "Wonderful Woodpeckers," which was
common back in the day for many bands (i.e., the "Mighty"
Mainliners). Like so many bands, they started out playing relief to
bigger showbands in and around Dundalk, but before long were playing
up and down the east coast and by mid 1961, they were playing across
the entire country. They were managed by sax player and bandleader
Mick McGoona from Navan, who had relocated to Dundalk.
In 1962, we have read in more
recent articles that Gerry Foran (lead singer) left the band and
took 3 other members with him to form the Paragon 7 Showband. We can
find any articles in the papers from this time, so we will have to
keep searching.
Former manager Patrick Bellew
passed away July 25th, 1999
In mid 1967 Mick McGoona left the
band to start a new band called Del Ron which were based in Navan. .
More to come.....
click on thumbnails for full image
