Carlow County - Ireland Genealogical Projects (IGP ^TM)

Carlow Showband's
The Ritz Showband

The following article appeared in the Nationlist
on Friday ,February, 5th, 2021.
Written By Charlie Keegan

THE recently-formed Ritz Showband from Graiguecullen, Carlow has scored a runaway success with its debut single 'I don’t know why I love you but I do', with the song gaining airplay on local radio stations the length and breadth of the country.

But the band members’ joy at the song’s success has been greatly tempered by the sudden death at his home on Tuesday 26 January of its lead singer Shay Lawlor. Shay had also been a talented rhythm and bass guitarist. Seventy-two-year-old Shay from The Downs, Pollerton, Carlow and a native of Duggan Avenue, Graiguecullen was a fine singer and musician, whose untimely passing has left his Ritz Showband colleagues devastated.

His death is also being deeply felt in the wider Graiguecullen-Carlow community, where he was a well-known and popular man.

Members of the Ritz Showband, along with other musicians who had played with Shay down the years, formed a guard of honour at Graiguecullen bridge on Saturday morning, when his remains were removed from his home to St Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen, where Shay’s funeral Mass was celebrated by Fr John Dunphy, PP, Graiguecullen-Killeshin.

Burial took place following Mass in Sleaty new cemetery, with Fr John reciting the final prayers at the graveside.

Shay is mourned by his wife Maria, daughter Dionne, his grandchildren Óran and Kiegan, to whom he was greatly devoted, and by his cherished siblings Michael (Pop), Chris, Maria, Tina, Liz, Noelette, his extended family, kind neighbours and his friends in the music industry. Shay was predeceased by his brother Kieran.

The Ritz Showband single, a big hit in 1961 for Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry, has proved a major hit with radio listeners, having topped the music charts in South East Radio, Wexford. The song has also received a massive amount of airplay from local stations KCLR, KFM and Midlands Radio. The story has been the same up and down the country, with Ireland’s network of local radio stations responding to the popularity of the song with their listenership.

The showband, its number now sadly reduced from nine to eight following Shay’s death, is comprised of Jimmy Byrne, Tommy Quinlan, James Knight, Willie Keating, Mike Russell, Martin Lacey, Arthur O’Neill and Frankie Horahan.

Band member Frankie Horahan told The Nationalist that Shay Lawlor’s death has put the success of the song into perspective.

He said that before the devastating sadness hit the band, the members had been greatly encouraged that Paddy Cole, Ireland’s ‘King of the Swingers’, had been in touch to offer words of praise for the Ritz Showband song. That represents high praise indeed, coming from the Castleblayney man.

The Ritz Showband came about when three former guitar players, who had retired from their working lives, advanced the idea among themselves over a cup of tea and a chat in the Graiguecullen Café. The band embraces musicians from Carlow, Laois and Castlecomer.

Six other musicians, who had played with various bands in the general Carlow/Laois/Kilkenny area, and are also retired from the workplace, came on board and the band came into being.

In adopting its name, the band provided a sentimental throwback to the Ritz Ballroom in Charlotte Street, Carlow, which for years was a Mecca for dancers and where many a romantic adventure began.

The band members agreed that any money raised by the Ritz Showband should go to St Fiacc’s House, Graiguecullen and to other local charities. Frankie Horohan is a fundraiser for St Fiacc’s.

The band was formed in early 2020, but the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic put their early plans on hold.

Written By Charlie Keegan

The Ritz Showband Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theritzshowband/

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