#OTD in 1934 – Singer, guitarist and founder of the Dubliners, Ronnie Drew, is born in Dublin.

16/09/2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. Ronnie Drew was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. He was best known for his long beard and his voice, which was once described by Nathan Joseph as “like the sound of coke being crushed under a door”. For more than 30 years, the distinctive voice of the […]

#OTD in 2008 – Death of singer and folk musician, Ronnie Drew.

16/08/2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

#OTD in 1984 – Death of Luke Kelly, lead vocalist and 5-string banjo member of the Dubliners.

30/01/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Luke Kelly was a singer and folk musician from Dublin, most famous as a member of the band ‘The Dubliners’. Indeed, while Luke often sang of the poor, the oppressed, the worker, the lover or the rebel –the realities of his own life and upbringing enlivened and gave weight to his songs and the emotional […]

#OTD in 1939 – Bernard Noël ‘Banjo Barney’ McKenna of the Dubliners is born.

16/12/2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

Barney McKenna was the last surviving founding member of the Irish folk group the Dubliners. While Ronnie Drew’s gravelly voice gave the band its memorable vocal sound, it was McKenna’s playing of the tenor banjo, coupled with John Sheahan’s fiddle, that gave the Dubliners their original instrumental quality. In the process, McKenna redefined the role […]