seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Royal Showband


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Death of Tom Dunphy, Lead Singer of the Royal Showband

Tom Dunphy, the charismatic lead vocalist of the Royal Showband and later the bassist of the Big 8, dies on July 29, 1975, in a tragic road accident.

Dunphy is traveling in a Ford Granada on the Longford side of Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, when his car skids on a wet surface while rounding a bend. It collides with an oncoming cement lorry. The crash occurs about five miles from Drumsna, near Annaduff, where he is en route to meet fellow band members for the Mary from Dungloe Festival in County Donegal. Band member Noel Ryan, who is a passenger in the car, escapes with little more than a concussion.

The Royal Showband, formed in 1957, is one of Ireland’s most popular showbands in the 1960s, known for large-scale dance events with audiences often exceeding 2,000. Dunphy sings lead on their hit “Come Down the Mountain, Katie Daly.” In 1971, he and Brendan Bowyer leave the Royal Showband to form the Big 8, a successful showband supergroup.

The accident cuts short a promising career and leaves a void in the Irish music scene. In 1978, a memorial site is erected near the crash location in Annaduff, maintained by local volunteers. Annual tributes have been held, including a Mass at St. Mary’s Church and musical events in Drumshanbo, often attended by family, fellow musicians, and fans from across Ireland and abroad.

Dunphy is remembered for his “sincere wit, charm and personality” that endears him to dancing enthusiasts nationwide. He performs alongside international stars such as Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, the Beatles, and Cliff Richard. His death marks the symbolic end of the showband era in Ireland.

Dunphy is buried in Saint Patrick’s Cemetery in Tramore, County Waterford.

Today, Dunphy’s life and career are commemorated in counties Waterford and Leitrim, with ongoing efforts to preserve his memory through plaques, events, and archival work.


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Founding of The Royal Showband

The Royal Showband, the most popular Irish showband of the 1960s, forms on September 27, 1957 and turns fully professional two years later, with a line-up comprising Michael Coppinger (saxophone, accordion), Brendan Bowyer (vocals, trombone), Gerry Cullen (piano), Jim Conlan (guitar), Eddie Sullivan (saxophone), Charlie Matthews (drums) and Tom Dunphy (bass).

After coming under the management of the astute T.J. Byrne, the Royal Showband is poised to emerge as the biggest act in Ireland, playing almost every night to audiences of 2,000 or more. Ballroom gods, they usher in the era of the showband and in Brendan Bowyer boast the genre’s most potent sex symbol.

In 1961, they tour the UK, are supported by the Beatles in Liverpool and receive the Carl Alan Award for their prodigious box-office success. At some halls firemen are called upon to hose unruly crowds as their popularity reaches unforeseen proportions.

Back in Ireland, they are the first showband to record a single, with Tom Dunphy singing lead on the infectious, quasi-traditional “Come Down The Mountain Katie Daly.” That is just the start. The Royal soon notches up four successive number 1 hit singles: “Kiss Me Quick,” “No More,” “Bless You” and “The Hucklebuck.” The latter becomes one of the bestselling dance records in Irish chart history. Dunphy and Bowyer continue the chart-topping spree with “If I Didn’t Have A Dime” and the cash-in “Don’t Lose Your Hucklebuck Shoes,” respectively.

Having conquered Ireland, the band switches their attention to Las Vegas where they become a regular attraction from the late 1960s onwards. In 1971, Bowyer and Dunphy rock the Irish music world by leaving Ireland’s most famous septet to form the showband supergroup, The Big 8. Although the star duo are briefly replaced by vocalists Lee Lynch and Billy Hopkins, the Royal Showband collapses within a year. The abrupt dissolution of the Royal Showband at the beginning of the 1970s symbolically ends the showband domination of the previous era, to which they had made an incalculable contribution.

Founding member Tom Dunphy dies in a car accident on July 29, 1975, just two days after three members of The Miami Showband are murdered near Newry. Brendan Bowyer dies in Las Vega on May 28, 2020.