seamus dubhghaill

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


Leave a comment

Birth of Guitarist Henry Cluney

Henry Cluney, guitarist and former member of the band Stiff Little Fingers, is born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 4, 1957. He remains with the group until lead singer Jake Burns disbands them in 1983.

Cluney tours briefly with the band Dark Lady supporting Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, notably at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London, but then spends five years back in Belfast teaching guitar until Stiff Little Fingers is reformed. He is a regular songwriting contributor for the group’s first four albums, taking over lead vocal duties on his own compositions. He leaves the group amid some acrimony in 1993.

Cluney moves to Rochester, Minnesota, in 1997, keeping up his involvement in music, playing guitar with several regional rock bands.

Cluney completes a feature-length film in 2009 and tours the United Kingdom for the first time in fifteen years, as the opening for The Damned and The Alarm on their 341 tour. He subsequently tours the next two years, as a solo artist, and in 2013 forms XSLF with former bandmate Jim Reilly, and friend, Ave Tsarion.

Cluney currently lives in Rochester with his wife, Carol, while touring frequently throughout the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), Ireland and Europe with his nephew David Cluney who also plays the guitar.