Memories by Paddy McCarthy
I had the pleasure of meeting the late Sean Dunphy on my own travels in the music business. Memories of him have come to mind but, that was quite a while ago. In the late ’70s, Dunphy had two more hits as a solo artist. Despite undergoing a quadruple heart bypass operation in 2007, the Irish singer continued to give live performances. In March 2009, he sang many of his greatest hits in a one-off concert at Dublin’s National Concert Hall. His last public engagement was at a charity event 24 hours before his death on May 17th, 2011. Dunphy died at his home in Baldoyle, County Dublin and is buried at Greenogue cemetery in Ashbourne, County Meath. Sean Dunphy and his wife Lily had four children including son Brian who is now a member of The High Kings, a popular Irish band.
Born on November 30th, 1937, in Whitehall, Dublin, Dunphy had 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. Dunphy first became famous in his home country as lead singer with The Hoedowners, a showband led by trumpeter Earl Gill. Between 1966 and 1973, 14 singles by Sean Dunphy and The Hoedowners entered the Irish Charts.
In early ’69, Sean and the boys had their first number one with The Lonely Woods of Upton.Then, in July, the band followed this up with the song, “When The Fields Were White With Daisies” which was arranged by Noel Kelehan and provided them with yet another number one hit and they became one of the few Irish artists ever to have a single in the top 20 for 12 months straight.
A chart survey published in Spotlight in January, 1970 showed that Sean Dunphy was far and away the top recording artist in Ireland based on the number of weeks and position in the charts for all of 1969, ahead of Joe Dolan and in third place, The Beatles. The only other Irish acts in the Top 10 of the survey were the Real McCoy and Dixies. He was classified as the gentle giant on the Irish Showband circle and was loved by all.