Remembering Mayo's Mr. Showband - Andy Creighton
By Tom Gillespie
DECEMBER December 4 marked the 21st anniversary of the death in London of legendary showband manager Andy Creighton, of Claremorris.
In the 1960s he oversaw the rise to national and international success of the Royal Blues Showband, culminating with their number one hit in 1966, ‘Old Man Trouble’, featuring lead singer Doc Carroll - the first top charting hit for a west of Ireland band.
Andy is pictured in the upstairs office of the Royal Blues Showband at The Square, Claremorris, with fan mail from all over Ireland and abroad decorating one wall.
The office was located above the drapery shop run by Andy’s wife, Marie.
Later, following the success of the Royal Blues, Andy opened a state-of-the-art lounge bar in Claremorris, later to become a bank.
According to the website irishshowbands.com, the band was formed in Claremorris in 1963 and were recognised as one of the most successful west of Ireland outfits of the 1960s.
Within six weeks of being formed they made a massive impact when they embarked on a tour of Irish halls in the US, a tradition they maintained for many years during Lent when the Catholic Church banned dancing in Ireland.
The band was formed when four members of Pete Brown's Band of Renown from Kiltimagh left to strike out on their own.
Frank Gill (sax), his brother Vincent (trombone), Brian Carr (bass) and Doc (Martin) Carroll (guitar) formed the new lineup with Shay O'Hara (vocals), Don Flanagan (drums), Bobby Smith (trumpet) and Brendan Arnold (guitar). Doc, Brendan and Vincent were also featured vocalists along with Shay.
Their first record in 1965 was ‘Love's Going to Live Here’, sung by Shay O'Hara, but it wasn't a great success.
However, their big break came with their next single, ‘Old Man Trouble’, which featured Doc Carroll on vocals. The record shot straight to number one in the Irish charts and remained there for nine weeks.
At their peak the band played six nights a week to crowds often in excess of 3,000 people.
Doc Carroll was born Martin O'Carroll, in Tourmakeady, on November 19, 1939, but from a young age became known as Doc Carroll.
Doc, who lived most of his life in Athlone, died in May 2005.
In 1983 Doc Carroll and the Royal Blues reformed for a special one-night only dance at Claremorris Town Hall.
The event, in aid of the Barnacarroll Community Centre Committee, was a complete sell-out, with fans travelling from all parts of the country.
The night was recorded on video by the late John Fitzgerald from Manulla, Castlebar, a well-known cameraman in his day.
Henry McGlade of TV Ireland obtained the tapes and broadcast the historic footage on his weekly show some years ago.
According to music critic, and former colleague, Michael Commins, Andy managed various other bands, including The Memories, Brush Shiels, The Philosophers, and D.J. Curtin and the Kerry Blues. Some top names like Colm T. Wilkinson and Chris De Burgh, who later went on to carve out international careers, sought the advice of the Claremorris man along the way.
According to the website irishshowbands.com, in the early 1950s most of Ireland's entertainment was provided by ‘orchestras’, which were really just dance bands with between 10 to 12 musicians. They usually featured piano, brass, guitar, drums and sometimes two or three vocalists. Musicians sat on chairs and read sheet music.
Names like Brose Walsh, Mick Delahunty and Maurice Mulcahy dominated the scene, playing a mix of standard tunes and the popular hits of the day.
It wasn't long before the Clipper Carlton Orchestra, from the North of Ireland, got the idea to stand up and move to the music, and the ‘showband’ was born. Soon, most showbands featured seven or eight members, a full complement of brass, and a lead singer out front instead of a band leader.
Names like the Royal Showband featuring Brendan Bowyer, the Miami featuring Dickie Rock and the Capitol featuring Butch Moore took the country by storm and at its peak, it is estimated that 700 to 800 showbands toured Ireland continuously.
In Mayo, the top ballrooms were the Royal in Castlebar (now the Royal Theatre), Starlight in Westport (now Portwest Clothing), Palm Court in Belmullet (more recently the Gateway Leisureplex), Beaten Path in Brize (now the headquarters of the Christian community group), Pontoon ballroom (long demolished) and Tooreen Ballroom, where it was alleged that the devil himself, with cloven feet, appeared during a dance.
There is a certain amount of confusion as to when this actually happened, as two dates are mentioned in documentaries on the bizarre event.
The most likely, I feel, could have been Friday, June 6, 1958, the other being December 23, 1954. I opt for the Friday night as it was recognised as a ‘dancing night’.
The story goes that a local woman was asked to dance by a brooding, handsome stranger, and soon the good-looking pair were turning heads with their lustful cheek-to-cheek dancing, forbidden by local priests.
All came to an abrupt halt, however, when the lady let out a blood-curdling scream. She had glanced down at the feet of her partner only to see he had the cloven hooves of Satan himself.
It was rumoured at the time that the story was concocted by a rival ballroom manager to damage the Tooreen venue.
However, as the ‘appearance’ received international headlines, the story had the opposite effect with people travelling from all over to visit the ‘devil’s dance hall’.