:)Two bands really were my favourites, Nevada werethe good news band,who always had some great singers and who always enjoyed themselves both on and off the stage.Tina,though for me was their best singer who always had time to chat to her fans ,everyone loved her!    New Blues played country and pop ,had two  brillant young singers in Keith Beattie and Carole Wallace plus some great musicians ,they were a very versatile band who had a loyal following.Keith had a hit with Spanish Disco,while Carole had a hit with her debut single. You Never Can Tell  in1977.She had agreat voice probably better suited to country rather than pop.Offstage   she was a  very friendly lady .

I have to say I really enjoyed Chips and the Memories as both were willing to try things other bands didn't. Chips played Steedy Dan stuff while I still think the Memories playing Bohermian Rhapsody has to be one of the most ambitious songs ever attempted by any band, anywhere. I also thought the early Plattermen were excellent, in some ways every bit as good as Blood, Sweat & Tears! Any others...?

:-*Iagree with you about Chips,they were really good.When I saw Gina and The Champions they were very good, she had a tremendous voice and the band generally were great to dance to.Watching Ray Lynam in action at the Tara Club made me realise what a great voice he had which should have graced the Opry in Nashville,plus many bands had geat individual musicians,one could easily have formed a super band!

Yes, I think there were a few great country singers overlooked because of the stigma of "country and Irish." Ray was certainly one of them and he also had a great band. It's kind of a pity that most of  them, even Ray, just sang knock offs of American country hits. Not a lot of originality there, at least not that I knew off, but I could be wrong.

For any one who is interested Ray can still be seen on the local lounge scene and I have to agree that he is one of the great talants that we have overlooked, I had seen him perform numerous times over the years, and on a trip home a couple of years ago saw him in the lounge scene with the"Little Japanese Band" it has always amazed how small these Japanese players are.I have to admit it is nice to recall how pure his voice is.

Good to hear Ray is still going...

Glad you liked "Chips". I joined the band just before the style changed from Steely Dan, Pink FLoyd, The Mamas and the Papas, Crosby Stills Nash and Young  etc to a more pop oriented band. Sucessful yes but not quite as enjoyable to play. Anyway what about the original Freshmen? Rumour has it that when the Beach Boys played in Belfast with the Freshmen opening the show for them, that, that all the Beach Boys watched the whole set from the side of the stage. And by all accounts when they went onstage they were nowhere as good as the Freshmen.

Without doubt the best band of the late 70s and 80s was Gina Dale Haze and The Champions A fantastic group with two of the best singers in the land and they played a real top class sound and filled the halls from Donegal to Cork Great to know they are still entertaining in the south mostly  Happy memoires indeed

I agree with you Gina  has a good voice,Peter Hayden  ex Nevada told me that Gina would have been the ideal lady to have fronted the showband with  him playing drums,she was the best in his opinion Shay.

Heard Gina about two years  ago and she sounds as good as ever Pity all The Champions songs are only on tape and record only

I played with Carole for a while, and still believe she could have sung anything.  A truly great talent, and a really nice lady.

Jimmy Compton

;) ;) ;) ;) ;)Jimmy agree with you about Carole very versatile,underrated and a lovely lady as well.Mind you I liked Lola as well who was in New Blues before Carole.Lola who writes to me occasionly has a great voice,her version of Danny Boy,recorded at the Rivera Las Vegas in 1984 is excellent as well.

While I agree that most of the bands mentioned in the above posts were very good, you have to go back further to get to the really good showbands. The Capitol, Johnny Quigley,Donie Collins etc. But the best of all were the Royal. ;D

Went to hear Gina last week in Castlebar She is still singing as good as ever Brilliant show by a top class performer

I  agree that Chips and The Memories were two of the best live bands . I would have to add in Tweed to make a Brill trio

:D   Gosh! this has been an emotional ride. Just found this web site by accident and had to join/post/say hi, etc
First off, I am Dee McMahon, I was better know as Julie from Des Lee, Julie, & Starband. Is that ISHAUN who I think it is???? If so you were in Vienna with me when we toured Denmark.
Speaking of Vienna...I see they are list as unknown, well Shaun should have updated you. We were a Dublin Band. members from all over.
OK, back to great bands....Chips were one of the best pop bands Ireland ever had, they lost out big time when Adrian joined Starband.
I also used to go and see the Memories...wow, they were amazing. It's been wonderful looking at all those pics. Only thing is the one of Starband says it's the original line-up...it nearly is...just minus ME!!!!
[flash=200,200][/flash]

Hello there:
                "The Freshmen" were the" Creme De La Creme" of all the Irish showbands.....ever! Billy Brown(RIP),was a genius!!.Derek Dean was an awesome singer!. TheFreshmen were my kind of band. I thoroughly enjoyed them!! .I never actually danced to them.....I just stood there in awe  and listened to them.There NEVER was,and NEVER will be,another showband like them EVER!!.They make me proud to be Irish!.

Yes Ecosse, The Freshmen were very good but obviously you never heard some of the really great bands like Johnny Quigley, The Clippers and a lot of others 8)

::) for now, a couple of bands from back then, tweed the new royal  not forgetting jon kennys band

Well...for what it's worth, I think the Indians, Green County, Cotton Mill Boys were great bands. As were Tweed, Memories & Chips. I also liked the Royal Blues & Miami. Some bands listed on the forum were just starting out as I left Ireland...so I can't comment on those... :)

No one to touch the Freshmen and The Plattermen. In a class of their own.

:) :) :)Freshmen were good,my favs were the Nevada and New Blues,both great bands to dance to :) :) :)

The best dance band of the late 70s and 80s was without doubt Gina Dale Haze and The Champions The biggest crowd pullers in the country for those years Fantastic sound and dance beat band Great to see all the pictures of them in the Profile section

I know that the topic of conversation in this thread is 'Favourite Bands & Singers', but what about your all-time, never to be repeated or forgotten - song? It doesn't have to be a really famous one. Maybe one that your fave band played? One of mine was 'Wild Blood' played/sung at the Indians gigs, also 'Funny Face' as sung by Roly & Green County. Maybe one that had you running for the toilets when the opening bars were sung? My least favourite was this and the opening line was 'The judge said stand up lad & dry up your tears....'. I know who it was by but I don't want to offend anyone in case it was their fave... It's just my opinion... ;D

beautiful day, or was it beautifull sunday,  is one of the songs that stands out ::)in my memory ::)daniel boone song early sunshine seventies, breandan o brien of the dixies stage 2 covered song

:) :) :) :) :)Like a lot of showband songs favourites are clap your hands stamp your feet by miami,the hucklebuck by the royal,but my  fav has to be  I'm  So Afrald by Lola,lovely slow ballad,which for me anyway is a classic! :) :) :) :)

my favourite singer was Larry Cunningham i followed him every were
i was a member of his fan club. I loved Johnny Mc Evoy too. My ladi  
  singers were Margo and Philomena

Hi Country-Girl-Mags
 Philomena Begley and Margo are two of my favourite singers. Philomena is still The Queen Of Country and sounding better than ever.    Philomena often joins  her son Aidan Quinn and his band on tour.  Aidan has his mothers talent for singing and the pair of them together is a double treat.  Aidan has just released a CD .   I have heard Gary Gamble sing when he was a guest on Country Afternoon with Hugo Duncan BBC Radio Ulster. Gary is very good.
                                      smith

Hi

I think one of the most underated singers in showbands is Frank McCafferey of The Country Folk. I feel that his style of singing was ahead of its time and was never fully appreciated. What a top range he had!! Glad to hear he is still going (saw him a few years back, here in England and he l sounded great!).
D

I agree. A fantastic voice. 8)

Hi..

I feel that had Frank and the guys had the right promotion they could have done so much more. We used to travel miles (when we were on holiday) to hear them. We used to love going to the Ballymore Music Festival. Often sitting in our cars (as it was pouring), with the windows down (listening), flashing headlights and tooting the horn!!!!! The things we used to do eh?
Kind regards
Dawn

;D those were the days ;D

Hi

Yes the certainly were. At that time my sister and I were in our early teens and poor dad had to drive us all over the country during our summer holidays to hear all our favourite bands (he loved it too though). Great memories!
Dawn

Thank God for Fathers!!!

There are a number of Showband compilation cds avaiable.
You'd need to check on the web.

liamo wrote on 07/02/05 at 22:47:44:

While I agree that most of the bands mentioned in the above posts were very good, you have to go back further to get to the really good showbands. The Capitol, Johnny Quigley,Donie Collins etc. But the best of all were the Royal. ;D

Hello, Re' the question you asked me about 'Michael Gilligan', I do not recall the name. I joined The 'Blue Aces' from County Waterford when they lived in England in about 1964. Ron Ryan.

HI. Yes I got that message. Sorry for not replying. You were in the band after I danced to them.

Saw Gina peform in Castlebar last night at Radio concert Sounded as good as ever Fantastic voice

Yea Must agree about Tweed I Played with them for a year.
Sorry to hear about Jeff(drummer) passing away.
I have fond memories of those times.Is Brendan&Kenny
still singing.

cheers Barry

::)hi i think that ther were quite a few singers to mention like boxcar willie, and the younger singers like jimmy buckley and patrick feeney, mike denver etc but the king of country music has to be the man himself big tom i think he is brilliant and his contribution to the country music over 4 decades is something to be proud of as some singers/bands dont even last the pace i hope he still continues,

cheers
i also likle barry doyle aka (farmer dan) and declan nerney

heard an ad during the week for Gina and The Champions playing in Castlebar on Aug 11th A rare gig indeed up that part of the country

i WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO GINA DALE HAZE AND THE CHAMPIONS ARE THEY ALL STILL LIVING IN CORK, ARE THEY ALL ALIVE AND WELL?

One of the best bands of the late 70's and early 80's was Chips.A truely class act.They performed brillantly wherever they played.I have fond memories of watching them on many occasions.Paul,Linda and Irene were and still are I guess, great singers
I liked them so much that I saw them play twice in 1 night! Happy days!
I have to say nearly all the bands were good in those days.They loved what they did! :)

Hi....

I agree trish The Indians and Cotton Mill Boys were really great bands..

Cheers..! ;)