Finbar was born in Dublin's inner city, the Furey family were travelling people who settled in Claddagh Road,
Ballyfermot, Dublin. Life was happy but beset with hardship.
It left its mark: "I like people who had a tough growing up," he says. "They know about life."
"Our parents started us off in music when we were very young," he says.
"My father played the fiddle and the pipes; my mother played melodeon and five-string banjo.
She was a wonderful singer as well... I can remember when we moved into our new house in
Ballyfermot. My father singing in the empty rooms. We lived and breathed music."
"Strangely enough, I can't remember ever learning to play an instrument... As far back
as I can remember, I could play music. There were always instruments in the house. When we
were kids, we had no TV, so we had to make our own entertainment. We'd just pick up the
instruments and start to play and sing."
Finbar readily admits to not having had much of a formal education, although he went to school
in Ballyfermot, to the De La Salle Brothers. "I went there for an hour. We only went to school
when we were caught."
It wasn't long before music totally dominated his life. In the early 60's, he started appearing with
his brother Eddie, and his father, Ted, in O'Donoghue's bar alongside Ronnie Drew who later
went on to form The Dubliners. "It was the place bands went to play," he says. "Ronnie would
sing a few songs, my father would play the fiddle, I'd play the pipes and Eddie would play the
guitar." Eventually these informal sessions ensure that O'Donoghue's bar became part of Irish
musical folklore.
For the next few years Finbar and Eddie Furey toured the Folk Clubs, Colleges and Universities throughout Britain and Europe, building up a large following for their haunting music. They
became folk legends across the continent and introduced a whole new generation to the wonders
of Irish music. Without realising it at the time, they also pioneered a pathway for many new
wave Irish traditional and contemporary bands that were to follow.
From playing to audiences of a mere 200 people, The Fureys soon found themselves headlining
concerts and playing to thousands of people on major european tours, particularly in Germany.
Indeed, Finbar and Eddie were instrumental in establishing Germany's very first "Irish Folk
Festival Tour." As their reputation spread wider, they consolidated their success in Canada
and the USA, and took Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France and Switzerland in their stride.
Before long, they were established as a household name throughout Australia and New Zealand.
When the younger brothers Paul and George joined the fold, several years later, success and
appeal remained as strong as it ever was.
With the success of their live concert appearances, it was inevitable The Fureys would soon
reap their own reward and enjoy a string of best selling records all over the world. It
happened with such gems as WHEN YOU WERE SWEET SIXTEEN, I WILL LOVE YOU EVERY TIME WHEN
WE ARE ONE, LEAVING NANCY, TARA HILL, GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE, RED ROSE CAFE and
THE LONESOME BOATMAN, which have gone on to become their own trademark, alongside such
albums as Sweet Sixteen, Golden Days, The End Of The Day, Claddagh Road and Winds Of Change.
In Britain they become one of a mere handful of Irish folk groups to make it on to TOP OF
THE POPS.
In 1993, with The Fureys at the height of their international popularity and after nearly thirty
years as the group's front man, lead singer and driving force... Finbar decided the time was
right to take a break, for the time being at least. It was the ideal climate in which to step
aside and go out on his own to pursue his solo career, to present his definitive one-man show
and to explore new pastures as a singer, producer and writer.
"I enjoy writing," he says. "I really know where the inspiration comes from... Either write a
song in ten minutes or don't write it." "The words and the melody come together!"
Since making his decision to step aside, Finbar's reputation has increased with every performance.
He has toured extensively in Britain, Australia, elsewhere, bringing his rare talents to a
world-wide stage and treating audiences to evenings of pure Irish magic, great music, good
humour, and the charm and sparkling wit associated with one of Ireland's great raconteurs.
"My life has been gifted," he says. "My brothers and myself travelling the road doing what we
love best, and a wonderful supportive family at home. What more could I want..?"
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The four Furey brothers of Ballyfermot have probably done more, both individually and collectively, than any other group to further the cause of Irish music. That’s an extravagant claim but for sheer longevity maybe only the Dubliners can rival them. And even though this compilation, which majors on the work of elder siblings Finbar and Eddie, can only scratch the surface it’s further evidence that the train of events that started when the pair arrived on the mainland folk-club scene in the 1960’s has resulted in a musical legacy to marvel at.
The story begins with parents Ted, a gifted fiddler and piper, and Nora, a singer and storyteller who played melodeon and five-string banjo. They moved from Dublin’s Coombe district when elder sons Eddie and Finbar (born 1944 and 1946 respectively) were both young and hearing his father’s singing echoing around the empty house as unpacking began, remains one of Finbar’s earliest memories. As Elvis and company shook up the world, Eddie took up the guitar and started playing in a local R&B group, but Finbar had a different musical road in sight: he accepted the challenge of the uilleann pipes. The family members all practised in different rooms and invited other musicians to the house to participate in numerous sessions.
The pair started playing in public together with their father in O’Donoghue’s bar as the 1950’s ended: one of their fellow performers was Ronnie Drew, the future charismatic founder of the Dubliners. From there, Eddie and Finbar crossed the water and moved into the burgeoning Scottish folk scene. Audiences there seemed more broadminded than at home, where the combination of 12-string guitar and pipes was regarded, in certain quarters, as something close to heresy.
“It got us banned on the traditional scene,” Finbar told writer Colin Irwin. “The Clancy brothers and the Dubliners were doing their thing as ballad groups, but we became a folk band – probably the first Irish folk band ever.” Certainly, the likes of Planxty, the Bothy Band and Moving Hearts would follow their example some years later, but in 1963 Finbar and Eddie Furey were in a field of their own. They signed to Transatlantic Records and, in 1969, made their American bow as guests of the Clancy Brothers.
Always popular among their peers, the boys thought their luck was in when Gerry Rafferty, then a Humblebum with Billy Connolly, wrote them a song. But, far from opening their chart account, ‘Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway’ is the hit that never was – even though radio legend John Peel made it his record of the year over Paul McCartney! Finbar blames record-business incompetence for the failure, but at least we (and John Peel) have the chance to enjoy it again here.
Germany took to the Fureys in a big way, and when the pair found themselves on the way to playing 5,000-seat venues they decided to start an ‘Irish Folk Festival Tour’ to give fellow acts a leg-up to success. Australasia, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries followed, and this allowed them to invite siblings George (born 1951, guitar, banjo) and Paul (born 1948, accordion) on board. The younger pair had been working with Scottish multi-instrumentalist Davey Arthur in a group called the Buskers and, when the elder brothers returned home to recuperate after a car crash, an inevitable merging of talents resulted. Though the first incarnation, which made their debut at the Cambridge Folk festival under the name Tam Linn, didn’t prove a success, they persevered and found fame (as the Fureys and Davey Arthur) with Eric Bogle’s ‘Green Fields Of France’. Then, in 1981, came their first UK chart entry with the Ritz label's third release, ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen’. Entering the chart in October, it reached Number 14 and sold over 250,000 copies. Finally, they’d cracked the mass market, and everyone from Terry Wogan through Des O’Connor to Jimmy Cricket wanted them and their trademark ballads on their TV shows. They also became one of only a handful of Irish folk groups to make it on to Top Of The Pops. Though that’s another story, our collection of Finbar and Eddie’s duo material includes its share of ballads which, if somewhat more starkly presented, retain the ability to stir the emotions. The likes of ‘My Lagan Love’ (later covered by Horslips), ‘Let Me Go To The Mountains’ and ‘The Curragh of Kildare’ represent traditional Irish music at its finest, while the plaintive ‘The Prickly Bush’ was often heard on the 1970’s folk scene.
There’s also much to admire in ‘The Fox Chase’, an epic six-minute set-piece (complete with yelping hounds) that offers Finbar full scope to show off his technique – he helpfully explains it all before he plays it! – while ‘The Rakish Paddy’ briefly exhibits the raw power he can wring from his pipes.
The traditional ‘Reynardine’, well known to Fairport Convention fans, receives a suitably Celtic makeover. And in the simple but haunting ‘The Lonesome Boatman’, possibly the first solo piece ever to be recorded on the low D whistle, we have the brothers’ unofficial theme tune.
The Fureys were no strangers to the album charts, their best performer, 1984’s ‘Golden Days’, reaching the Top 20 and selling over a quarter of a million copies. As for fans, some of their famous admirers include Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Irish President Mary McAleese, Pope John Paul (for whom they played during his 1979 visit to Ireland) and Tony Blair, who proclaims ‘Green Fields of France’ his “favourite peace song.”
But all good things must come to an end and in 1993 Finbar cut short three decades of family music-making with the decision to go solo. Davey Arthur also left to form his own band, while Paul passed away in 2002 after a short illness. Finbar’s career as a solo performer and raconteur goes from strength to strength, while George and Eddie are still touring with Montey Mooney (accordion), Derek McCormack (bass), Stephen Leech (banjo, mandolin) and even, on occasion, old friend Davey Arthur.
Will we ever see the like of the Furey family again? My guess is not. In these days of satellite TV, Playstations and the Internet, there may be too many distractions for the necessary foundations to be laid. “When we were kids,” Finbar recalls, “we had no television, so we had to make our own entertainment. We'd just pick up the instruments and start to play and sing.” There’s a lot to be said for traditional family values…
Michael Heatley
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