Irish balladeer Liam Clancy dies at 74
Irish ballad singer Liam Clancy ó the last surviving member of the influential Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem folk singing troupe ó has died at age 74.
Clancy died Friday at Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, Ireland, surrounded by his wife and two of his children, according to his manager.
The singer had suffered from fibrosis of the lungs, which also claimed the life of his brother, Bobby, in 2002.
Irish Arts Minister Martin Cullen was among those who offered a tribute to Clancy, hailing his “superb singing, warm voice and gift for communicating in a unique storytelling style.”
Ireland has lost a brilliant musician, politician Enda Kenny said of Clancy’s passing.
“His death really does mark the end of an era. Liam’s contribution to Irish music and culture was simply outstanding,” he said in a statement.
“As a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, [he] revolutionized ballad and hope music in Ireland and, later with Tommy Makem, Liam provided outstanding entertainment and promotion of his country.”
Youngest brother
Born in Carrick-on-Suir, Liam Clancy was the youngest of 11 children. He began singing when American folk song collector Diane Hamilton Guggenheim visited his mother during a search for traditional Irish music, in 1955. It was through travels with Guggenheim that he would meet countryman Makem, his life-long friend and collaborator.
In his late teens, Clancy moved to New York to join two of his brothers, who were then working as actors in the city’s theatre community. The siblings ó Paddy, Tom and Liam ó teamed with Makem, who had also moved to the U.S., and began putting on small concerts to raise money.
Their performances, which included folk adaptations of traditional Irish songs, eventually found a host of admirers on the pub circuit and in New York’s famed Greenwich Village bohemian folk scene ó including avid fan Bob Dylan, who cited the group as a major influence and called Liam Clancy “the best ballad singer I’ve ever heard.”
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem shot to fame in 1961 when the Aran sweater-clad quartet was tapped as a last-minute substitution for a missing guest on The Ed Sullivan Show. They began recording albums and landed ever-more prestigious gigs, including at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Solo career in Canada
By the early 1970s, however, the troupe dissolved and Clancy pursued a solo career. Facing debts, he moved his family to Calgary, scored a hit with the song The Dutchman, hosted his own TV program and was featured on other music shows, including CBC’s 1976 concert series Summer Evening.
He would later reunite with Makem, gaining renown as the duo Makem and Clancy. That eventually led to an expanded reunion of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
His brothers Tom and Paddy died in 1990 and 1998. Makem died in 2007.
Clancy published his autobiography, The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour, in 2001 and was profiled in an award-winning Irish TV documentary in 2006. This past September, The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy screened at the Dublin Film Festival.
Clancy is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.
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