The Memories honoured the great Dublin team of the 70s, Heffo's Heroes, with a song called "The Likes of Heffos Army";  on the day they recorded the song, as they packed up their gear, paid for the session and headed off with the master tape, another band arrived into the same studio that evening to record a song called "Heffos Heroes".  Both songs charted, with the Memories barely beating the other band.
The pseudonym "Light Blue" was used, but who was the actual band who played and sang "Heffos Heroes"? (No session musos were used on either of the recordings).

I have absolutely no idea who the Light Blues were , but it is something I have often wondered about. I shall be verry interested to learn who they were.

there was a rumour at the time that the Memories themselves did it to create an artificial "race up the charts" - as often happened when someone heard a hit song in america and four or five showbands rushed to release the song first. The publicity would help the sales regardless of who had the hit with it.  Anyone else hear that?

Sorry Whistle - good try tho.  I never heard that rumour.  They were on 2 different record labels so it was never going to be true.  

I'm surprised some of the regulars haven't tried this one, I thought it was fairly common knowledge at the time who was behind Light Blue.

Clue - they might not have been blue but....

Green maybe??

Luap,  I can't figure out why a showband would not use their own name on a record.  Are you sure there wasn't some onehitwonder band actually called Light Blue?  
We all want fame and glory, so why hide away when you've got a bit of a hit record?  
I gather from other posts that lots of the contributors have archives of Spotlight magazine, maybe yiz could do a trawl through some of those and find out?  
I'm a bit baffled by this one - and what's really annoying is I think I remember how it sounded, wasn't it a Gary Glitter kind of rip-off with heavy percussion and handclaps?
If anyone has the record, the composer will be listed and there might be a clue there.

Liam, do you mean green as in jealous?  I suppose there were bands who envied the Memories, they were at their peak in the mid 70s and pulling huge crowds.

Whistle  - yeah, I am surprised that the dust hasn't been blown from the old spotlights, I'm suspect the truth must have been revealed at some time then!

Keep thinkin', lads and lassies!

Hey! TP... Where are ya when we need your expertise in records? ;)

Whistle, old boy, you're on the right track with the glitter/glam sound - and while you pose a sensible question about what band would be hiding behind a false name, I can assure you that "Light Blue" never existed as a real band.  The guy behind it was a bit of a messer (as Larry Gogan can well attest) and I think he was suprised when the record actually took off. He was also behind a lot of the bandwagon ambushes referred to in a recent post.  Lordy, folks, there's a few clues in there for yiz!!!

PS  - whistle, I just checked!!!  the mention of ambushes was yours - sou MUST know who we're talking about!!!!!

Luap. Not green as in envy, as in Beats and I wish I had all the Spotlights I had to brush the dust off :-[

I wouldn't put it past Joe Mac. ???

TP is certainly keeping quiet on this one.  Maybe he's still trawling thru his old spotlights. I doubt if Joe Mac would have been happy to release a record with out the band's name on it.  Yeah, he was a guy for the high jinks - as were all the Dixies!
Liam referred to the Greenbeats, was it them?

Doesn't sound like John Keogh on vocals.

...may not sound like him, but John Keogh certainly knew how to "entertain". He was a total joker at times which would fit luap's description.  Were the Greenbeats still  playing at that stage or had they morphed into the Real McCoy? John went FULL CIRCLE around that time and got back to his R&R roots with Mog Ahern and Brian Lynch.  He was also writing and recording jingles so it wouldn't have been beyond him to have done the Light Blue record.
Luap, where are ye? put us out of our misery!

John Keogh WAS the man behind "Heffo's Heroes". After the Greenbeats folded, he worked for RTE as a producer (still does, perhaps?) but he couldn't shake the performing bug so he formed rock and roll band Full Circle and I think they are still gigging! They recorded "Heffo's Heroes" which I think was also composed by John, and persuaded Hawk Records to back it.  I have no idea why they didn't use the band name.

why did you give a clue "not bue but ...green" that's just leading people astray if the greenbeats were gone.  have you any way to prove that you're right?  I really can't see John Keogh doing that.  One  recording  Full circle did in the late 70s was an excellent R&R album called "Party Hits" or similar.

Kim Newport's single "Stop Think" was written by John Keogh, and he produced "The Live Mike" TV series which provided him with a platform for his many gags and antics. He also produced Larry Gogan on radio and if Larry wasn't such a gentleman he'd have a few tales to tell!
But Heffos Heros?  prove it.

Whistle, its a fact. You prove that its not.

Whistle will ya get a life .If the man says its John Keogh just believe him.He would not be the first to release a record under another name sure didnt Horslips do it at the height of their fame and so did The Saw Doctors. :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

Does anyone one know who wrote "Heffo's Heroes"? If John Keogh wrote it  then I guess that would confirm what luap is saying. I recall Dave Pennefeather having some involvement in the recording! Can you throw any light on that luap?

I really dont know why i bother but i have been on to a collector friend of mine in the hope of putting this to bed.According to him he remembers it was someone from the 60s who was behind it and he checked the single for me and here are the details writers as follows .
J Koff / S Frank also wrote the b side .
Published by Squirrel Music. Hawk Hasp 351.
Those names look a bit iffy to me so it certainly could be  the man himself.

J Koff has the same initials as John Keogh