Still going Strong

Rob still going strong after 60 years on the road

As the legendary blues/soul singer celebrates his 75th birthday, Paul Holland looks back on the life and career of Rob Strong

The legendary Blues/Soul singer Rob Strong has just celebrated his 75th birthday and has been performing for 60 years in the music business in Ireland. As the title of his recent biography suggests, the Derry born singer is ‘STILL GOING STRONG and continues to play LIVE all over Ireland in 2022. In the early 1970s nobody in Ireland personified the raw energy of rock blues and soul music like Rob Strong. Rob is known as ‘The Godfather of Soul’ but is versatile in singing all genres , especially Rock, Blues, Jazz and Pop . He is regarded by Colm Wilkinson, Brush Shiels and Johnny Logan, as one of the best singers to ever come out of Ireland.

Robert Armstrong was born in 1947 in Derry City, the eldest of nine children to Bobby Armstrong and Sadie O’ Donnell. Due to a chronic housing shortage in the city at the time the Armstrong family moved to the tin huts in Springtown Camp, which was originally a base for the American Navy during The Second World War. The Camp, known as “The Yankee Bases” consisted of 302 tin huts and was situated off the Buncrana Road in the west of the city. After the war, huge numbers of people in Derry were unemployed and many emigrated to England, Scotland or America. Many families in the city lived in squalor in slum tenement buildings and seriously overcrowded terraced homes. In 1946, some of these families were so desperate, that they squatted into the tin huts at one of the camps. feed, but most families were big those days. I just couldn’t wait to leave school and get myself a job and earn my own money’. Rob remembers how he struggled to meet girls as a teenager ‘When I started going to dances and tried to meet girls, I was quite shy. I remember going to dances in Butt Hall, Ballybofey in nearby Donegal. It wasn’t easy going the whole way across the dance floor, to the other side of the hall, where all the girls were. I had to pick up the courage to ask a girl to dance, only to often be rejected and have to walk all the way back to my friends! I wasn’t great at dancing but I’d throw a few shapes anyway!’

Eventually, some 319 families ended up in Springtown Camp, with many not re-housed for over twenty-one years! After the war, huge numbers of people in Derry were unemployed and many emigrated to England, Scotland or America. Many families in the city lived in squalor in slum tenement buildings and seriously over-crowded terraced homes In his biography Rob recalls how tough things were in Springtown Camp ‘Money was tight in the family, my mother would keep me home from school for a few weeks at a time, so that I could work on a farm, picking potatoes,. Every penny counted, especially with nine children to Rob moved to Omagh at the age of 16, where he was to join two of Ireland’s biggest Showbands, The Polka Dots (with Frankie McBride) from 1965 to 1967 and the iconic Plattermen from 1967 to 1974. Both moves were organised by Rob’s lifelong friend and legendary singer, the late Brian Coll. After playing bass guitar with The Polka Dots, Rob progressed to become lead singer with The Plattermen, one of Ireland’s finest ever bands. In 1974/75 he spent a year with Eurovision Winner Johnny Logan in a fantastic band called The Giants and later fronted The Las Vegas Showband with Kelley, Ireland’s top female singer at the time. Rob Strong and The Rockets were hugely popular all over Ireland in the late ‘70s and early ‘80. For almost 40 years he has fronted The Rob Strong Band, which currently feature top class musicians, Sean Behan on lead guitar, Cormac Crowley on drums, Salvatore Urbano on keyboards and Rob himself on lead vocals and bass guitar.

Rob’s amazing story is described by Brush Shiels as a ‘phenomenal biography which recalls the whole music scene in Ireland from the 60s to the present day’. The foreword is penned by Barry Devlin of Horslips fame. Joe Duffy‘s Liveline highly recommends the book saying it is ‘a fabulous tribute to the wonderful Rob Strong’. Ireland’s biggest names give fascinating interviews on Rob and the Irish music scene in the ‘60s to the ‘90s A youthful Rob Strong in 1984

with household names such as Phil Coulter, Johnny Logan, Colm Wilkinson, Brian Coll, Paul Brady, Don Baker, Paddy Cole, Brush Shiels, Mary Coughlan, Frankie McBride, Pat Shortt, Smiley Bolger, Fr. Brian D’ Arcy, Barry Devlin, his son Andrew Strong and Thin Lizzy original guitarist Eric Bell. They recall many memorable moments of Rob’s career with the overwhelming consensus being that his amazing voice and bass playing have always been world class. Indeed renowned USA Producer, Danny Saber, who has worked with The Rolling Stones, U2,Madonna etc is very interested in making a movie on Rob Strong’s career and the impact of Irish musicians all over the world.

Rob’s son, Andrew Strong, achieved worldwide stardom when he starred in The Commitments movie in 1991 and nowadays performs in Scandanavia and Australia. Rob’s daughter, Niamh Strong, has performed regularly with Rob’s band and the youngest in the family, Alex, is proving to be very talented on the bass guitar.

‘Rob Strong is unique. He is incredibly talented. In my opinion he is the best Blues or Soul singer to ever come out of Ireland. His innate gift is his voice and his timing is incredible’ Colm Wilkinson

‘Seeing Rob Strong with the Plattermen in the late ‘60s was a big influence on me. To hear a fellow Northerner sing the soul music I loved so well, gave me a lot of confidence that one day I could find my own voice. Rob is one of the true originals!’ Paul Brady

‘When I think of Rob Strong I think of a big voice doing Bluesy stuff with a raw edge. Rob Strong has a big engine and a great vocal range’ Phil Coulter

The Official Rob Strong Biography Still Going Strong includes a FREE CD (Soul Affair by The Rob Strong Band) and is only available online from www.robstrong.ie, at concerts or by contacting Paul Holland on 087 9630375