Luke Kelly facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Luke Kelly
Kelly in 1967
Background information
Born	(1940-11-17)17 November 1940 Sheriff Street, Dublin, Ireland
Died	30 January 1984(1984-01-30) (aged 43) Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Irish folk
Occupation(s)	Singer folk musician banjoist actor
Instruments	Vocals, banjo, guitar
Years active	1962–1984
Associated acts	The Dubliners

Luke Kelly (born November 17, 1940 – died January 30, 1984) was a famous Irish singer, folk musician, and actor from Dublin, Ireland. He grew up in a working-class family in Dublin. When he was a teenager, he moved to England and got involved in a big folk music movement. In the 1960s, he came back to Dublin and helped start the popular band The Dubliners in 1962. Luke Kelly was known for his special singing voice and sometimes sang about important social and political ideas. Many people think he was one of Ireland's best folk singers ever!

Luke Kelly's Early Life

Luke Kelly was born in Sheriff Street, Dublin. His parents, Luke Kelly and Julia Fleming, were a working-class couple. This means they worked hard for their money. Luke's grandmother, who came from Scotland, lived with them until she passed away in 1953.

Luke's father, also named Luke, was hurt as a child. Soldiers shot into a crowd in Dublin in 1914. This event was called the Bachelor's Walk massacre. Luke's father was shot in the lung. Doctors did not think he would live, but he got better.

Luke's father worked at a biscuit factory for most of his life. He also loved playing football and singing. Luke's brother, Paddy, remembered that their father was very good at singing spiritual songs. They would all sing along for fun. In 1942, the Kelly family moved into new apartments called the St. Laurence O’Toole flats. Luke spent most of his childhood there. Later, a fire made them move to the Whitehall area. Both Luke and Paddy played Gaelic football and soccer when they were kids.

Luke Kelly left school when he was thirteen. After doing many small jobs for a few years, he moved to England in 1958. He worked on building sites with his brother Paddy. He also worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Luke described himself as a "beatnik," meaning he lived a free and unconventional life. He traveled around Northern England looking for work. He once said his life back then was about "cleaning lavatories, cleaning windows, cleaning railways, but very rarely cleaning my face."

How Luke Kelly Started in Music

Luke Kelly was interested in music from his teenage years. He often went to traditional Irish dance events called céilithe with his sister Mona. He also listened to famous American singers like Fats Domino and Frank Sinatra. He loved theatre and musicals too, and helped put on plays in Dublin.

In early 1960, Luke found his first folk music club in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He had already started playing the banjo and began learning many songs. In Leeds, he would bring his banjo to music sessions in a pub. At this time, folk music was becoming very popular in England. A famous folk musician named Ewan MacColl had a radio show about folk music. Another type of music called skiffle also made folk singing exciting.

Luke started busking, which means playing music in public for money. When he visited home, he went to a traditional Irish music festival called a fleadh cheoil. He listened to recordings of famous folk singers like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Luke also developed strong beliefs about social justice and politics. His friend Ronnie Drew later said that Luke stuck to these beliefs his whole life. Drew also noted that Luke "learned to sing with perfect diction," meaning he sang very clearly.

Luke became friends with Sean Mulready in Birmingham and lived with him for a while. Sean was a teacher who had lost his job in Dublin because of his communist beliefs. Sean's family had strong music connections. Sean's brother-in-law taught Luke a famous song called "The Rocky Road to Dublin". During this time, Luke also studied books and politics with Sean and his family. Luke later said that his interest in music and politics grew at the same time.

Luke bought his first banjo, which had five strings and a long neck. He played it like Pete Seeger and Tommy Makem. He also started reading a lot and playing golf. He joined a folk club run by Ian Campbell. He became friends with Dominic Behan and they performed in folk clubs and Irish pubs across England and Scotland. In London pubs, he heard street singers and musicians from Ireland who lived there.

Luke Kelly was also active in the Connolly Association, a left-wing group for Irish people living in England. He also joined the Young Communist League. He toured pubs, playing his music and selling the group's newspaper. In 1962, a professor offered Luke a chance to study at a university in Prague. But Luke chose to focus on his music career instead. He also started going to a singers' club run by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in London.

Joining The Dubliners

In 1961, there was a big folk music boom in Ireland. Many pubs in Dublin started hosting music sessions. Luke Kelly came back to Dublin in 1962. O'Donoghue's Pub was already a popular place for music. Soon, Luke was singing there with other musicians like Ronnie Drew and Barney McKenna. Many other talented musicians also played there.

A concert organized by John Molloy led to a "Ballad Tour of Ireland" with the Ronnie Drew Ballad Group. This tour led to more performances in popular venues. Ciarán Bourke joined the group, and later John Sheahan joined too. Luke suggested they rename themselves The Dubliners. He was reading a book of short stories by James Joyce called Dubliners at the time. Luke was the main singer for their first album in 1964. It included his famous song "The Rocky Road to Dublin." Barney McKenna said that Luke was the only singer he ever heard sing it perfectly with the fiddle's rhythm.

In 1964, Luke Kelly left The Dubliners for almost two years. He was replaced by Bobby Lynch and John Sheahan. Luke went back to London with Deirdre O'Connell, who he would marry the next year. Deirdre was the founder of the Focus Theatre. Luke joined Ewan MacColl's "gathering," a group that explored folk traditions and helped young singers. During this time, he stayed involved in politics. He became very active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which worked to get rid of nuclear weapons. Luke also became good friends with Michael O'Riordan, a leader of the Irish Workers' Party. Luke supported O'Riordan in his election campaigns. In 1965, Luke sang "The Rocky Road to Dublin" with Liam Clancy on Clancy's first solo album.

Bobby Lynch left The Dubliners, and John Sheahan and Luke Kelly rejoined. They recorded an album in Dublin and played at the Cambridge Folk Festival. They also recorded a live album with other musicians. They played a concert in Dublin with Pete Seeger as a special guest. The band was becoming very successful. They had hit songs like "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". They even appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968 and toured New Zealand and Australia. Folk music in Ireland was becoming very popular, and pubs were building bigger places for paid concerts.

Luke Kelly also acted. In 1969, he performed in the Dublin Theatre Festival. He later played King Herod in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar many times at the Gaiety Theatre.

Christy Moore, another famous musician, became friends with Luke in the 1960s. In 1972, The Dubliners performed in a play based on the works of Brendan Behan. In 1973, Luke played King Herod again in Jesus Christ Superstar.

When a new manager, Derry composer Phil Coulter, joined The Dubliners, they created three of Luke's most famous songs: “The Town I Loved So Well”, "Hand me Down my Bible", and “Scorn Not His Simplicity”. The last song was about Phil's son, who had Down Syndrome. Luke respected this song so much that he only sang it once for a TV recording. He rarely, if ever, sang it at The Dubliners' often lively shows.

Luke's versions of “On Raglan Road” and "Scorn Not His Simplicity" became very important in Irish folk music. His version of "Raglan Road" came about when the poem's writer, Patrick Kavanagh, heard him singing in a Dublin pub. Kavanagh told Luke that he should sing the poem, which is set to the tune of “The Dawning of the Day”. Luke remained a musician who cared deeply about social issues. He supported the movement against apartheid in South Africa and performed at concerts to help the Irish Traveller community. Many of his songs were about social problems, the arms race and the Cold War, trade unionism, and Irish republicanism. Songs like "The Springhill Disaster", "Joe Hill", and "God Save Ireland" show his concerns.

Luke Kelly on stage in 1980

Luke Kelly's Personal Life

Luke Kelly married Deirdre O'Connell in 1965. They separated in the early 1970s. For the last eight years of his life, Luke lived with his partner Madeleine Seiler, who was from Germany.

Luke Kelly's Final Years

Luke Kelly's health got worse in the 1970s. On June 30, 1980, he collapsed on stage during a concert in the Cork Opera House. For some time, he had been suffering from bad headaches and memory problems. Doctors found a brain tumour. Luke toured with The Dubliners after having an operation, but his health continued to get worse. He would forget song lyrics and needed longer breaks during concerts because he felt weak. After his emergency surgery, he became more withdrawn. He preferred to stay home with Madeleine rather than perform. On a European tour, he managed to perform for most of the show for their Live in Carre album. However, in late 1983, he had to leave the stage during concerts in Austria and Germany. Soon after, he had to cancel the rest of the tour. After a short stay in a hospital in Heidelberg, he was flown back to Dublin.

After another operation, he spent Christmas with his family. But he was taken to the hospital again in the New Year. He passed away on January 30, 1984. Thousands of people from all over Ireland came to Luke Kelly's funeral in Whitehall. His gravestone in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, says: Luke Kelly – Dubliner.

Sean Cannon took Luke Kelly's place in The Dubliners. He had been performing with the band since 1982 because Luke's health was getting worse.

Luke Kelly's Lasting Impact

Luke Kelly's impact on Irish music and culture is seen as very important. His story has been shared in many documentaries and collections of his work.

His Scottish grandmother influenced Luke to help keep important traditional Scottish songs alive. These include "Mormond Braes", "Peggy Gordon", and Robert Burns' "Parcel of Rogues".

The Ballybough Bridge in Dublin was renamed the Luke Kelly Bridge. In November 2004, the Dublin City Council voted to put up a bronze statue of Luke Kelly. However, the group funding it later said they could not afford it. In 2010, a city council member asked famous musicians like Bono and Enya to help raise money for the statue.

Paddy Reilly recorded a song honoring Luke Kelly called "The Dublin Minstrel." The Dubliners also recorded this song. The song was written by Declan O'Donoghue.

In December 2005, a documentary called Luke Kelly: The Performer was released. It quickly sold many copies. The documentary told Luke's story through the words of The Dubliners, Donovan, and others. It showed full versions of rare performances, like his appearance on Ed Sullivan Show. Another documentary, Luke Kelly: Prince of the City, was also very popular.

In September 1988, a monument was put up to remember Luke Kelly in the Larkhill area of Whitehall, where he had lived.

Two statues of Luke Kelly were revealed in Dublin in January 2019. This was to mark 35 years since his death. One, a life-size bronze statue by John Coll, is on South King Street. The second sculpture, a marble head by Vera Klute, is on Sheriff Street. The marble sculpture was damaged several times in 2019 and 2020, but it was repaired each time.

Luke Kelly's Music Albums

Compilation Albums

Singles

DVDs

Images for kids

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  Statue on South King Street

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  Sculpture of Luke Kelly on Sheriff Street by Vera Klute. Unveiled in 2019