Con Cluskey

Last weekend when I was on Facebook I saw the news about the passing of singer and member of the legendary Irish singing group the Bachelors Con Cluskey but it was not mentioned on the newspapers websites until the other day which I shared one of them one my Facebook. The Bachelors were the first Irish group to have an number 1 in the British charts and they started out at the the Harmonichords in 1957 with brothers Con and Dec Cluskey and John Stokes which they were playing mouth organs and played around Dublin. They played with the Radio Eireann Light on air as well as playing in the Theaters around Dublin and appeared on Opportunity Knocks hosted by Hughie Green on Radio Luxemburg. They made an apperance on the Ed Sullivan Show doing Danny Boy March 15th 1959 and did an 25 week run on the radio called Odd Balls hosted by Eammon Andrews which they did background music plus featured pieces and also started playing around Ireland which they added singing and playing guitars in the set. They started to play in Glasow at the Pavillion Theatre for 2 weeks and did an 2 week run in Manchester at the Hume Hippodrome. They came to the attention of Phil Solomon in 1962 and they did an tour with Nina and Frederick as well as an Summer Season in Scotland in Arbroath. They began recording for Decca in 1962 which they became the Bachelors and they released their very first single Charmine which went to number 6 in the UK as it was the start of an string of British top 40 hits in the UK from 1962 until 1967 which would include their only British number 1 Diane as well as other big hits including I Believe, No Arms Can Ever Hold You, Ramoana, Marie, True Love For Ever More, I Wouldn't Trade You For the World, The Sounds of Silence and many others as many of those hits were covers of oldies from the 1920's, 1930's 1940's and 1950's. They did appearances on TV shows including Top Of The Pops, The Ed Sullivan Show, Sunday Night At the London Palladium, Bandstand hosted by Brian Henderson November 23rd 1968 which it's on DVD , Thank Your Lucky Stars, The Arthur Haynes Show , the Johnny Carson show and many others. They toured Australia in October 1965 with Gene Pitney, Twinkle and Mike Preston who would go on to become an well known on Australian TV including hosting In Melbourne Tonight and as Detective Bob Delaney on the iconic Australian police show Homicide from episode 333 May 9th 1972 until episode 375 May 22nd 1973 which included Brisbane October 4th and also worked in the UK in the club and cabaret circuit, the USA which they did some cabaret shows in 1966, South Africa and had their own TV shows on the BBC in the late 60's and early 70's. Their hit making days ended in 1967 but continue to record and performing in the Cabaret circut until 1984 when there was an messy split between the Cluskey Brothers and John Stokes when then Con and Dec performed as the New Bachelors with Peter Phipps while John Stokes formed an duo Stokes and Coe and eventually formed his Bachelors with Jonathan Young and Ex Karl Denver Trio member Kevin Neill in the mid 90's which lasted until 2010 when Kevin passed away and Dave Pearson took his place which that line up until a few years ago. The Bachelors with the Cluskeys and Peter Phipps lasted until 1993 and Con and Dec performed as Con and Dec The Bachelors which they continued to perform live until covid and then they did corona diaries as well as Last Month With the Bachelors, Bachelors In Lockdown, Bachelors In Pandemic and Sunday Sounds on Zoom which they tell stories and sing songs until recently. It is sad Con Cluskey has passed away but he has an great legacy of music that he made with the Bachelors and it holds up so well to this day with great songs with great harmonies with an great vocal done by Con who I think had an distinctive singing voice which will live on forever. he was survived by 4 children and 3 grandchildren and his wife Kay passed away in 2017. Thank you for the music and the memories.