William "Liam" Clancy died he was 74 (Irish Liam Mac Fhlannchadha) was an Irish folk singer and actor from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest and last surviving member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. The group were regarded as Ireland's first pop stars.[1] They recorded 55 albums, achieving global sales of millions and appearing at a sold-out Carnegie Hall, New York and the Royal Albert Hall, London.[2][3](2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009)
Liam was regarded as the group's most powerful vocalist.[4] Bob Dylan regarded him as greatest ballad singer ever,[1][5][3][6] whilst Gay Byrne described him as one of the “most famous four Irishmen in the world”.[2] He was a central figure during the 1960s folk revival.[3]
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However, while still in his teens, Liam explored writing and painting, though he was particularly drawn to the theatre. In his early performing days, he began to call himself Liam rather than William or Willie. Before he was twenty years old, Liam had founded the local dramatic society now called "Brewery Lane Theatre and Arts Centre", and had produced, directed, set-directed, and starred in John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. Liam also performed at the renowned Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.[7] He encountered Diane Hamilton Guggenheim when she came to his hometown to visit his mother, and set off on a tour of Ireland alongside her.[2][3] During her 1955 trip to Keady, Clancy encountered Tommy Makem for the first time.[2] He would later pursue Guggenheim to the United States.[3]
Clancy began singing with his brothers at fund-raising events for the Cherry Lane Theatre and the Guthrie benefits. The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, began recording on Paddy Clancy's Tradition label in the late 1950s. Liam Clancy played guitar in addition to singing and also recorded several solo albums. They recorded their seminal The Rising of the Moon album in 1959, giving live performances in the American cities of Boston, Chicago and New York.[2] A record-breaking[citation needed] sixteen minute long performance on American TV's The Ed Sullivan Show on 17 March 1961 launched the group into stardom.[2][3] They were supposed to only play two songs but the main act cancelled at short notice.[8] There were international tours, which included performances at Carnegie Hall] (a sell-out in 1962)[8] and the Royal Albert Hall.[3] Their trademark attire was Aran geansaí—these were sent across the water by Mrs Clancy for her boys to wear against the unforgiving American climate.[3] The quartet recorded numerous albums for Columbia Records and enjoyed great success during the 1960s folk revival. Liam was a close friend of Bob Dylan when they both were going out with two sisters in New York. He performed live for United States President John F. Kennedy.[9] Liam Clancy was the last surviving member of the original Clancy Brothers; Tom Clancy died on November 7, 1990, Patrick Clancy died on November 11, 1998 and Tommy Makem died on August 1, 2007. Liam said of his status as last known survivor,
“There was always a pecking order, especially when you’re working with family. But they all died off, and I got to the top of the pecking order, with nobody looking over my shoulder. There’s a great sense of freedom about that”.[2]
After The Clancy Brothers split, Liam had a solo career in Canada.[3] He made television performances in Calgary, Alberta.[2] He had a hit with "The Dutchman" and presented his own television show there, also appearing on the CBC concert series Summer Evening in 1976.[10] In 197, he was booked to play a festival in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, where Tommy Makem was also playing.[2] The two played a set together and formed Makem and Clancy, performing in numerous concerts and recording several albums as a duo, until 1988.[2] The whole ensemble also got back together in the 1980s for a reunion tour.[3][2] After the death of Tom Clancy in 1990, Liam came together with Paddy and Bobby Clancy and nephew Robbie O'Connell.[2] He also performed alongside his Fayreweather Band and the Phil Coulter Orchestra.[2]
In later life, Liam maintained a solo career, whilst also engaging in other pursuits. He lived in County Waterford at this stage.[3] He had a recording studio in Ring, County Waterford.[2]
In 2001, Liam Clancy published an autobiographical novel, entitled The Mountain of the Women. In early 2004 he created what many critics[who?] consider his greatest musical contribution since the dissolution of the original Clancy Brothers.[citation needed] He was in No Direction Home, the 2004 Bob Dylan documentary directed by Martin Scorsese.[2]
In 2006, Clancy was profiled in a two-hour documentary titled The Legend of Liam Clancy produced by Anna Rodgers and John Murray with Crossing the Line Films, and screened on the Irish channel RTÉ. In February 2007, this documentary won the award for best series at the Irish Film and Television Awards in Dublin. In 2008 Liam performed in a filmed concert titled Liam Clancy and Friends, Live at The Bitter End which featured the last filmed performance of his friend Odetta, as well as songs from Tom Paxton, Shane MacGowan, Gemma Hayes, Eric Bibb, and Fionn Regan as well as members of Danú.
The same director Alan Gilsenan went on to direct a full length biography of Liam Clancy, The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy.[5] This was released at the 2009 Dublin Film Festival and went on to have a theatrical and DVD release in Ireland the UK. The film includes appearances by Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Bob Dylan, Odetta, and many others [9] as well as much unseen archive such as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at Newport Festival.
His final album The Wheels of Life was released in 2009: this included duets with Mary Black and Gemma Hayes as well as songs by Tom Paxton and Donovan.[2]
Liam was an ardent proponent of political views and often outspoken on matters of social injustice right up until his death.[11] He criticised both Gulf Wars and the grim, harsh economic climate which gripped Ireland during his last months alive.[4] He told The Irish Times in September 2009 that he was on his “last legs”.[12] He had already given his final performance, at the National Concert Hall the previous May, during which he recited the Dylan Thomas poem "And death shall have no dominion".[12] He was unable to perform a full-length show on the final night of a two-night sold-out run but put in a 40-minute appearance nonetheless.[13] His manager described it as “a very profound moment. He expressed his fear of dying, but he did it with great dignity”.[12]
Liam Clancy died from interstitial lung disease on 4 December 2009, in Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, Ireland. Bobby Clancy died of the the same disease seven years previously [5] and is buried in the new cemetery in Ring, where he spent the last number of years of his life. Liam Clancy was survived by his wife, Kim, and four children, Eben, Siobhán, Fiona and Donal.[3][5] His son Eban was in the process of coming over from the United Kingdom and he had had a chat with his son Donal who was in the middle of a tour of California.[13] The other three sat beside him as he died.[3] Liam had intended to give another interview at the time but succumbed to the disase before this was possible.[13]
The leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny, mourned the loss of a "brilliant musician".[5] Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen said, "Liam Clancy was a nationally and internationally renowned folk singer and was an example of an absolutely dedicated artistic craftsman. This generous and life-giving person enriched all of our lives with memorable songs and was part of the fabric of Ireland’s proud traditional music culture".[14] Alan Gilsenan described the death as the "end of an era".[5] The American city of Boston was said to be in shock at the news as his influence there is "inescapable".[15] Christy Moore, on a prescheduled appearance on The Late Late Show aired live on the night of Liam's death, said, "I would have been listening to Radio Luxembourg and rock 'n' roll as a young fellow and then I got to hear of the Clancy brothers, when I was 16 I came to Dublin to hear them in a concert. It was about 1962, I think it was the Olympia, it was the most exciting concert I had ever attended. It was Irish, it was rock 'n' roll, it was funky and it was even sexy".[16][17]
Clancy's lunchtime funeral at St Mary's Church in Dungarvan on 7 December was attended by hundreds of mourners, including both the Aide de Comp of the Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Minister Cullen and various musicians and artists.[18] He was later buried in Ring.[18]
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