Paddy Moloney born 1 August 1938

Paddy Moloney (1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was particularly associated with the revival of the uilleann pipes. 

Moloney was born in Donnycarney, north Dublin, to John, an army sergeant and Catherine (nee Conroy), both of them were musicians, as were countless family members, especially those living near his maternal grandparents in Co Laois. Almost before he started at St Mary’s school, his mother recognised his musical talents and bought him a tin whistle. Paddy soon persuaded his parents to buy him a practice set of pipes, costing a whole week’s wages, and he enrolled at the school of music run by the master piper, Leo Rowsome. 

He made his public debut, aged eight, with fellow musicians in Phoenix Park, and was soon winning prizes at competitions. Still in short trousers, he played alongside piping greats such as Séamus Ennis and Willie Clancy and was soon a regular performer at Dublin’s Pipers’ club. After finishing school, Moloney accepted a position as an accountant for a major building firm, Baxendales. Music remained an important part of his life, however, as he balanced his accounting career with collaborations with such stellar Irish musicians as Sean Potts, Michael Tubridy, and Martin Fay. 

                                   

In the late '50s, Moloney began playing with Sean O'Riada, who subsequently formed a band, Ceoltoiri Cualann. In 1962, Moloney assembled several of the band's musicians, including Sean Potts, Mick Tubridy, Martin Fay, and Peadar Mercier to record an album entitled The Chieftains for Garech Browne’s new Claddagh record label, with Moloney arranging all the music. Intended as a one-time project, the album was so well received that the musicians agreed to continue as a more-formal ensemble. It was later followed by The Chieftains 2 (1969), then The Chieftains 3 and so on, right up to number 10 in 1980. There was a turnover of band members, but the central and dominating figure of Moloney ensured that the Chieftains’ winning style continued. 

The band did not perform in public until 1964 and only turned professional in the mid-1970s, so their initial reputation was based almost entirely on the recordings. The first album achieved almost cult status when featured by John Peel on his BBC Radio 1 Top Gear broadcasts, and when they did perform live, sometimes at pop festivals, their suits and ties made them unlikely targets for hippy adulation. But they and their music captivated audiences of all types and ages. 

Paddy with Paul McCartney

Browne enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and Moloney often performed at his parties, where he impressed friends such as Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger. During the post-production of Chieftains 2 at the Abbey Road studios, Moloney gained another Chieftains fan in Paul McCartney, who later invited Moloney to play on a couple of album tracks. Over the years, Moloney was sought after as a session or guest musician by artists such as Jagger, Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, Luciano Pavarotti and even The Muppets. 

Moloney continued to work at Baxendales until 1968 when he was hired to work for a new record label, Claddagh. During the five years that he worked for the label, he produced or co-produced more than four dozen albums by such Irish musicians as Paddy Taylor, Maire Ni Dhonnchadha, and Denis Murphy. The decision to turn professional came after a widely acclaimed concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on St Patrick’s night 1975. The same year, Moloney arranged numbers for the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon. Further film work included The Grey Fox (1982) and Treasure Island (1990), and Moloney also arranged the music for live performances by the band of a ballet version of The Playboy of the Western World. In 1988, Moloney received an honorary doctorate in music from Trinity College in Dublin. 

In 1979, the Chieftains played for Pope John Paul II and a million people in Phoenix Park, Dublin, and, with substantial international touring, it was no surprise that they became Ireland’s honorary musical ambassadors in 1989, later performing for the Queen and President Mary McAleese in 2011. Moloney received the Ohtli Award, Mexico's highest cultural award, on 13 September 2012. On 28 June of the following year, he and the other members of the Chieftains received the Castelao Medal by the Government of Galicia, Spain for services to Galician culture and society. He was named a Commander of the Order of Civil Merit in Spain four years later. 

The Chieftains’ last show, according to NPR, was an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Philadelphia in 2020 before the pandemic led to them canceling the rest of their tour. Moloney died suddenly at a hospital in Dublin on 12 October 2021, at the age of 83. His funeral was held on 15 October at St. Kevin's Church in Glendalough, followed by a burial at the adjoining cemetery. 

(Edited from Derek Schofield obit @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)