Seán Patrick Michael Sherrard, also known professionally as Johnny Logan, is an Australian-born Irish singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for being the first of only two performers to win the Eurovision Song Contest as a lead singer twice.
Eric Robin Bell is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founding member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy, of which he was a member from 1969 to 1973. After his time in Thin Lizzy, he briefly fronted his own group before joining the Noel Redding Band in the mid-1970s. He has since released several solo albums and performs regularly with a blues-based trio, the Eric Bell Band.
The Irish showband was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically had seven to ten members, including a rhythm section and a brass section with various combinations of trumpet, saxophone, and trombone, and were fronted by lead singers. Some included comedy skits in their shows. Their repertoire included rock and roll, country and western, Dixieland jazz, big band tunes, Irish Céilí dances, Latin, folk, and more. Showbands were noted for the energy they brought to live performances, their chart-topping covers, and sometimes choreographed performances. Many such bands toured in Ireland, and some of the successful ones later performed in Britain, the US, Canada, on the German nightclub circuit, and on U.S. military bases in Europe.
Linda Martin is a Northern Irish singer and television presenter. She is best known as the winner of the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest during which she represented Ireland with the song "Why Me?", the first of a record three consecutive wins by Ireland. She is also known within Ireland as a member of the band Chips.
Brendan Bowyer was an Irish singer best known for fronting the Royal Showband and The Big Eight, and who had five number one hits in Ireland. He was also renowned for having The Beatles open for the Royal Showband at a concert on 2 April 1962 at the Pavilion Theatre, Liverpool, England, some six months before the release of The Beatles first single "Love Me Do", in October 1962. Bowyer was regarded as one of the first headlining Elvis impersonators. Elvis Presley himself was a big fan of Bowyer's performances and would often attend Bowyer's concerts in the Stardust Resort & Casino, Las Vegas during the 1970s.
Emmet Spiceland was an Irish folk band formed when brothers Brian Byrne and Michael Byrne of the Spiceland Folk Group joined forces with Dónal Lunny, Brian Bolger and Mick Moloney's Emmet Folk Group.
Richard Rock, known professionally as Dickie Rock, was an Irish singer. Chiefly associated with the era of showbands in Ireland, Rock came to prominence as a member of The Miami Showband in the 1960s, subsequently becoming a solo artist in 1973. He represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966. Rock continued to tour for several decades until his retirement in 2021.
The Miami Showband killings was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands.
Daniel Doyle was an Irish folk singer born in Dublin. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the top Irish singers, regularly featuring in the Irish charts and scoring three No.1 singles. He recorded 25 albums and is known for his chart-topping songs "Whiskey on a Sunday", "A Daisy a Day", and "The Rare Auld Times".
Brian "Red" Hurley is an Irish singer. Hurley's career includes singing lead for bands such as The Colours, The Wheels, and The Nevada. He had a series of number one records in the 1970s while performing with The Nevada. Hurley also represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 with the song "When".
The Miami Showband were an Irish showband in the 1960s and 1970s led firstly in 1962 by singer Jimmy Harte, followed by Dickie Rock and later by Fran O'Toole. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart.
Sean Dunphy was an Irish singer who represented Ireland at the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest, achieving second place with "If I Could Choose". He was also the first Irish singer to record in Nashville.
James Augustine "Butch" Moore was an Irish singer and a showband icon during the 1960s.
Ray Dolan is an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist. He began his career in the early 1970 by playing folk clubs in Dublin with James Connolly as a duo, contributing to the success of the Universal Folk Centre at Parnell Square. In 1973, they were involved in the five-member band Heir. The two musicians also participated in the final Anne Byrne album Come by the Hills, published in 1974, and containing a cover of the Dolan's song "Constantly Changing". He went solo that year, and recorded an album on EMI label in 1975, Restless Night, but he remains mainly known for the Tír na nÓg version of his song "Hey Friend" from their eponymous album released by Chrysalis Records in 1971. The Irish duo contributed to his solo album with Leo O'Kelly as producer, and among other guests like Philip King, future Scullion founder with Sonny Condell. The same year, he did a brief screen appearance in an episode of the BBC Two documentary series The Camera & The Song, dedicated to O'Kelly and Condell.
Dawn Martin is an Irish singer who represented Ireland in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest.
Larry Cunningham was an Irish country music singer, who was one of the leading figures of the showband scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Cunningham accomplished a series of "firsts" during his career. In 1964, Cunningham broke into the British charts with "Tribute to Jim Reeves", the first time an Irish artist had done such a thing.
Earl William Gill was an Irish trumpet-player and bandleader who, with the Hoedowners, achieved fourteen Top 20 hits in the Irish charts between 1966 and 1973. As "Tim Pat", he also had a solo hit in 1971 with a novelty song, "Poor Poor Farmer".
Barbara Law, née Dixon is an Irish-Canadian actress and singer. First prominent in Ireland with the pop trio Maxi, Dick and Twink and Brendan Bowyer's Royal Showband, she moved to Canada in the early 1970s after marrying Peter Law of The Pacific Showband. While the Pacific Showband continued to record and perform in its own right under the new name Dublin Corporation, Peter and Barbara Law also performed separately as co-vocalists for the band Sweet Chariot.
Geraldine Brannigan,, known professionally as Géraldine, is an Irish singer, known for finishing in fifth place in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song "Toi" while representing Luxembourg.
