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The Brendan Bowyer Story
BY OLIVER M C INERNEY
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The legendary Irish showband singer Brendan Bowyer passed away on May 28th 2020 at his home in Las Vegas, USA, aged 81. Brendan was born in Waterford on October 12, 1938. After leaving college he became a union clerk with a local firm. A work colleague, Tom Dunphy, invited him to join the Harry Boland Band as a trombonist in September 1957. The band was relaunched as The Royal Showband. In 1962 the group recorded the very first showband record “Come Down the Mountains Katie Daly”, at Abbey Road Studios, London with the late Tom Dunphy, who died tragically in a car crash in 1975. Ireland’s first home based pop idol hit the No.1 spot in Ireland’s Top 10 charts with his debut single “Kiss Me Quick”. Brendan achieved a life time ambition on March 26 1966, when he met his idol Elvis Presley on the film set of ‘Spinout’ in Los Angeles, USA. Brendan and The Royal topped the Irish charts with five No.1 hits: “Kiss Me Quick” (1963); “No More”; (1963), “Bless You” (1964); “The Hucklebuck” (1964) and “Don’t Loose Your Hucklebuck Shoes” (1965). In 1971, Bowyer decided to leave The Royal Showband to form his own band called The Big 8, and relocated to Las Vegas. His daughter Aisling is also a successful singer in Vegas.
Aussie citizen Oliver - who hails originally from Longford - celebrated a two year milestone in July for his weekly radio show “Anything Goes” on the volunteer run community station VCA 885fm. Lately he has had to present from home thanks to Coronavirus, but still he pushes on. Congratulations on the good work Oliver. If you would like to request your favourite Irish song contact him at 9297 1088 or SMS 0481 988 505.
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