Saturday 7 March 2020

Paddy Clancy born 7 March 1922


Patrick Clancy (7 March 1922 – 11 November 1998), usually called "Paddy" or "Pat" Clancy, was an Irish folk singer best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.  He was an active member of the group from 1956 until his death in 1998 and appeared on every Clancy Brothers recording.

Tom & Paddy (late 40's)
Pat Clancy was one of eleven children and the eldest of four boys born to Johanna McGrath and Bob Clancy in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. During World War II he served as a flight engineer in the Royal Air Force in India. A military career neatly balanced by his active membership in the I.R.A. After his demobilization, Clancy worked as a baker in London. In 1947 he immigrated to Toronto, Canada with his brother Tom. The following year, the two brothers moved to Cleveland, Ohio to stay with relatives. Later, they attempted to move to California, but their car broke down and they relocated to New York City instead.

After moving to Greenwich Village in 1951, both Paddy and Tom Clancy devoted themselves primarily to careers in the theatre. In addition to appearing in various Off-Broadway productions and television shows, they produced and starred in plays at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village and at a playhouse in Martha's Vinyard. Their productions included a 22-week run of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. After losing money on some unsuccessful plays, the brothers began singing concerts of folk songs after their evening acting jobs were over. They soon dubbed these concerts "Midnight Specials." Paddy and Tom were often joined by other prominent folk singers of the day, including Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Jean Ritchie.

In 1956 their younger brother Liam Clancy immigrated to New York, where he teamed up with Tommy Makem, whom he had met while collecting folk songs in Ireland. The two began singing together at Gerde's Folk City, a club in Greenwich Village. Pat and Tom Clancy sang with them on occasion, usually in informal folk 'sing-songs' in the Village. 

Around the same time, Pat founded Tradition Records with folk-song collector and heiress Diane Hamilton, and in 1956 the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem released their first album, The Rising of the Moon, with only Paddy's harmonica as musical backing.
However, the Clancys and Makem did not become a permanent singing group until 1959. In the meanwhile, Paddy signed and recorded established folk artists for Tradition, including Jean Ritchie, Alan Lomax, Odetta, and Ewan McColl. He also went as a cameraman on an expedition to Venezuela in search of alluvial diamonds, ostensibly as part of a documentary crew.

In the late 1950s, Pat Clancy with his brothers and Makem began to take singing more seriously as a permanent career, and soon they recorded their second album, Come Fill Your Glass with Us. This album proved to be more successful than their debut album, and they began receiving job offers as singers at important nightclubs, including The Gate of Horn in Chicago and The Blue Angel in New York City. The group garnered nation-wide fame in the United States after an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which led to a contract with Columbia Records in 1961.

In late 1960, reports of a particularly harsh winter in New York had spread across the Atlantic, and the Clancy Brothers, a troupe of expatriate Irish folk singers in Manhattan, received a parcel from their concerned mother back home in Ireland. It contained four Aran sweaters. The brothers wore them at a Greenwich Village folk club, and it quickly became their trademark. When they played the Ed Sullivan Show in March 1961, their pristine knitwear made them the most famous Irishmen on earth.

They continued performing together to great acclaim in the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia until Tommy Makem left the group to pursue a solo career in 1969. The group continued first with Bobby Clancy and then with Louis Killen until Liam left in 1975 to pursue a solo career. In 1977 after a short hiatus, the group reformed with Paddy, Tom, and Bobby Clancy and their nephew Robbie O'Connell.



                             

In a 2008 documentary, The Yellow Bittern, Liam Clancy recalled Paddy as the "alpha male" of the group, who "quietly laid down the law" that his younger brothers and Makem followed "without question." Paddy also often acted as the spokesman for the Clancy Brothers. His signature song was the classic Irish drinking song, "A Jug of Punch."

After almost two decades in North America, in 1964 Pat Clancy returned to live in Carrick-on-Suir, where he bought a dairy farm and bred exotic cattle. When not on tour or working on his farm, he spent much of his time fishing, reading, and doing crossword puzzles. In the late 1990s, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The tumour was successfully removed, but he was also stricken with terminal lung cancer around the same time. He continued performing until his failing health prevented him from doing so any longer.


Patrick Clancy died at home of lung cancer on November 11, 1998 at the age of 76. He was buried, wearing his trademark white cap, in the tiny village of Faugheen, near Carrick-on-Suir. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

For “Raise A Glass to the Sounds of The Clancy Brothers
& Tommy Makem - Four Original Albums” go here:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dF7UacXd

Disc 1

1. O'DONNELL ABOO
2. THE CROPPY BOY
3. THE RISING OF THE MOON
4. THE FOGGY DEW
5. THE MINSTREL BOY
6. THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY
7. TIPPERARY FAR AWAY
8. KELLY THE BOY FROM KILLANNE
9. KEVIN BARRY
10. WHACK FOL THE DIDDLE
11. THE MAN OF THE WEST
12. EAMONN AN CHNUIC
13. NELL FLAHERTY'S DRAKE
14. BOULAVOGUE
15. WHISKY YOU'RE THE DEVIL
16. THE MAID OF SWEET BROWN KNOWE
17. THE MOONSHINER
18. BOLD THADY QUILL
19. ROSIN THE BOW
20. FINNEGAN'S WAKE
21. THE REAL OLD MOUNTAIN DEW
22. COURTING IN THE KITCHEN
23. MICK McGUIRE
24. A JUG OF PUNCH
25. JOHNNY McELDOO
26. CRUISCIN LAN
27. PORT LAIRGE
28. THE PARTING GLASS

Disc 2

1. THE MOONSHINER (Live)
2. THE WHISTLING GYPSY (Live)
3. MY JOHNNY LAD (Live)
4. THE WORK OF THE WEAVERS (Live)
5. THE OLD ORANGE FLUTE (Live)
6. BRENNAN ON THE MOOR (Live)
7. TIM FINNEGAN'S WAKE (Live)
8. PORT LAIRGE (Live)
9. HAUL AWAY JOE (Live)
10. YOUNG RODDY McCORLEY (Live)
11. A JUG OF PUNCH (Live)
12. REILLY'S DAUGHTER (Live)
13. BRENNAN ON THE MOOR
14. THE WORK OF THE WEAVERS
15. THE STUTTERING LOVERS
16. PADDY DOYLE'S BOOTS
17. THE MAID OF FIFE - E - O
18. THE BARD OF ARMAGH
19. THE JUG OF PUNCH
20. RODDY McCORLEY
21. THE BARNYARDS OF DELGATY
22. THE CASTLE OF DROMORE
23. THE BOLD TENANT FARMER
24. BALLINDERRY
25 BUNGLE RYE
26. EILEEN AROON
27. JOHNNY I HARDLY KNOW YOU

The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish family of folk singers who are widely credited for popularising traditional Irish music in the United States. Best known for their work with Tommy Makem there's little doubt that in the 1960s, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were the most popular Irishmen in America. Clad in their trademark Aran sweaters they attacked the stage with boisterous exuberance. They introduced hundreds of songs, well known in Ireland, to a new and eager audience. They didn't fit either the old or the new stereotypes but they were clearly a force to be reckoned with.

Jasmine Records highlight their first 4 LPs including a live session featuring Pete Seeger.

A big thanks to Mijas @ acmmijas blog for original post.

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For “ Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem - Sing Of The Sea” go here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/668u1qp616h86xw/Clancy_Brothers_%2526_Tommy_Makem_-_Sing_Of_The_Sea.rar/file


1. Congo River
2. Santy Anno
3. Farewell to Carlingford
4. Paddy West
5. Johnny's Gone to Hilo
6. The Lowlands Low
7. The Good Ship Calibar
8. Love Is Kind
9. Blood Red Roses
10. Three score and Ten
11. Heave Away My Johnny

Band
Paddy Clancy: Vocals and Harmonica
Tom Clancy: Vocals
Liam Clancy: Vocals and Guitar
Tommy Makem: Vocals, Banjo and Tin Whistle
Louis Killen: Concertina (un-credited)

Here is an excellent collection of Sea Shanties by the equally excellent Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. Released in 1968 Sing Of The Sea contains songs with Celtic origins plus songs from all over the world, songs of every subject matter under the stars — work — love — loneliness — always the truth about the way they felt — "For love is king to the least of men, though he be but a drunken tar" — or "My dear old mother wrote to me, 'Son, dear son, come home from sea.'". Sing Of The Sea remains one of the many favourite Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem albums....it's a joy to listen to.

A big thanks for this album to Kieran Owens @ celticvitalsigns.blog for active link.