Big To

Brendan Quinn

In The summer of 1967

Brendan Quinn was born in the small market town of Magherafelt in South Derry Ireland. One of fourteen children, his father was the local blacksmith.

Growing up in the Fifties was an exiting time, with the emergence of Rock’ n Roll and artists such as Elvis,Jerry Lee and Fats Domino dominating the charts at the time.The young Brendan got the bug early,influenced by his older sister Philomena who sang with The Malachy Doris Band.He would listen to Philomena singing all the hit songs of the day around the house. ‘I used to sing in bed and when I was about ten I can remember my mother shouting up the stairs to me to stop singing and go to sleep’ says Brendan.  Local musician Sean McKee had a skiffle group at the time complete with washboard, tea chest bass and of course a couple of guitars. Sean showed Brendan a few basic and told him if he learned to play the guitar then he could be in the group.So, instead of spending the long winter nights playing snooker or going to the ‘ Pictures ‘he sat in the house strumming his way through such ditties as Rock Island Line and That’s Alright Mama.

Leaving school at fifteen with no education certificates, Brendan went to work with his father in the blacksmith’s shop learning how to shoe horses and hoop cartwheels. Things didn’t quite work out and after a year or so he left the blacksmith’s shop to take an apprenticeship as a welder in a local builder’s yard.

All this time Brendan was honing his skills as a guitarist/singer in a local showband called Robin And The Breakaways, playing local ballrooms, Orange and parish halls.He would often get back from a gig at six or seven in the morning and go straight to work.

In The summer of 1967, at the height of the flower power thing, Brendan and the rest of the Breakaways decided to hit the road as full time  professionals

‘It was fantastic,we didn’t have to go to work any more. We would be getting Home from a gig at all hours and we would see all our mates standing on the corner with their lunch boxes under their arms waiting for the lorry to take them to work and we were going home to a nice warm bed’ says Brendan

When Lead singer Robin decided to immigrate to Canada it fell to Brendan to fill his shoes  as well as playing guitar. It was at this stage that Brendan made his first recording. With the assistance of another young guitarist Arty McGlynn,

The Breakaways took the long trip to Dublin’s Trend Studios and recorded four songs which led to the release of Brendan’s first single, the Kris Kristofferson classic ‘Help Me Make Through the Night’.which was released on the new Velvet label.

In 1971 brendan recorded the Jerry Chessnut song ‘It’s Four in the Morning which became major hit and made him a household name in Ireland. His follow up single ‘Behind Closed Doors’ was played listed on Tony Blackburn’s Radio one morning show. It was actually played every day for a month but just failed to make it into the British charts The song however went to number five in Ireland.

By 1975 brendan had formed a new country band The Bluebirds and they went on to great acclaim recording four albums together for the Emerald label in Belfast and performing one night stands, TV shows and representing Ireland at the prestigious CMA Fanfare in Nashville.

In 1980 while performing at the Wembley Country Music Festival Brendan Met up with the famous Jim Halsey who booked  a lot of America’s top country acts such as Don Williams, George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Kenny Rogers.The result of this meeting was  two major tours of the States culminating with a spot on the syndicated coast to coast TV show HEE-HAW.In one memorable night in Tulsa Brendan and the boys had an impromptu jam session with the great Merle Haggard. Brendan recalls ‘We did this show that Haggard was headlining and after the gig Merle invited us back to his suite at the hotel and we sang and played Irish and country songs till the dawn. I can still see Hag crossed leg on the bedroom floor pickin’ out the blues and calling to me to sing Danny Boy’

 These trips made a lasting impression on Brendan and by 1981 he had moved his whole Family to Vancouver Canada when he and the band were booked for an eight-week stint at the famous Blarney Stone club in the city’s Gastown.

‘We went to Vancouver for eight weeks and ended up staying four years’ says Brendan. ‘We got so many offers to play here and there so we ended up playing all over Western Canada and the North-western USA. We played a festival in the Northwest Territories in town called Watson Lake and as we drove into town, we were so far North there was this big sign saying Welcome to Watson Lake and a huge arrow pointing South to Alaska, and it was In the winter and about forty below but all in all we loved Vancouver’.

1985 saw Brendan and his family back in Magherafelt and picking up his career again. This was enhanced when the late Harry Adair asked him to present a new TV show for BBC. Make Mine Country ran for two seasons and was a huge success , putting Brendan firmly back in the limelight.

In the early 90’s Brendan decided after 25 years on the road to stop touring .

He disbanded The Bluebirds and formed a new  band with his old friend Arty McGlynn. The Kickin’ Mule is a bunch of musicians who get together from time to time to play the kind of music they like themselves. They don’t rehearse and just play for fun.

In the recent past Brendan has got together with his two sons Stephen and James and they play as the Brendan Quinn Family Band and is really enjoying himself. Here’s to another thirty years of great music from The Mighty Quinn

Quote form John Kelly Broadcaster John Kelly

‘When I was very very young –long before I had witnessed a live band – I had witnessed a live tour bus. It was parked at the back of a hotel in Enniskillen and it belonged to Brendan Quinn And The Bluebirds who were, without doubt one of the hardest working bands of the day and I’ve kept an ear on Brendan ever since

That bus was probably heading for Dublin or Cork or maybe even further afield to Canada or the US because Brendan was playing an incredible 350 nights a year. It was all part of that hard road which has now lasted three decades and grants Brendan that highest of accolades- he has paid his dues’.