Joe Dolan

In 1958, as well as securing his first (and last) "real" job as a compositor in the local Westmeath Examiner newspaper, Dolan got his first guitar. After learning some skills on the instrument, he and his saxophone-playing brother Ben started to play in local bands. They soon formed a band of their own – The Drifters. Not long afterward, the band was renamed Joe Dolan and the Drifters and finally Joe Dolan and His Drifters to avoid legal action from the American band of the same name.[7]

The Irish musical landscape in the 1960s was dominated by the showbands. The first single "The Answer to Everything", (previously released as a B side by Del Shannon) was released in September 1964, reaching number 4 in the Irish charts. Dolan and his band were managed by Seamus Casey. In the summer of 1968, however, some of the band left, with Dolan and Casey citing "musical differences" as the reason, although in the official biography by Ronan Casey (Seamus Casey's son) further elaboration includes references to unhappiness about financial issues.[8]

Dolan's first US tour was in 1965 and followed an offer, which he refused, to play in Las Vegas. Instead, he decided to play a whistle-stop tour of Irish-American venues in places such as Chicago, New York and Boston. An added benefit to this string of engagements was the opportunity to hear American music which hadn't yet been played in the UK and Ireland. The first song gleaned in this fashion was the Jim Reeves song, (That's When I see the Blue in Your) Pretty Brown Eyes[9] which Dolan released on the Pye label in 1966.

A second US tour in 1967 led an offer to appear in Las Vegas, but he turned it down.[10] Eventually in 1980 he accepted $10,000 a week plus board and lodgings to perform for six weeks over September and October at the Continental Lounge of the Silverbird Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas.[11] Eventually playing 64 shows and selling out most of them, he and his band returned to Ireland to be immediately rebooked for Vegas in January 1981.[12] Although he turned down subsequent offers to return to Vegas, other venues approached him with increased offers, thinking he was merely hunting around for the best deal, but Dolan refused them all. Several other attempts were made through the years to entice him back but he never returned – except on holiday.[13]

In 1978, he became the first Irish artist and one of the first Western acts to tour communist Russia.[14]

Dolan toured the segregation era in South Africa and was on a UN blacklist for defying the artists' ban.[15]

After reforming the band Dolan recorded a song called "Make Me an Island", written by the songwriting duo Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood,[14] for Pye Records in conjunction with Shaftesbury Publishing. The track was a hit in England and led to Dolan's first appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops and helped to make him the biggest Irish star in the world at that time,[16] eventually becoming a number one hit in 14 countries, as well as reaching Number 3 in the UK, becoming Joe Dolan's only British Top 10 hit, and one of only four hit singles Dolan ever had in the UK (all of these hits performed better in the Irish Charts).[17]

In Ireland, the song peaked at number 2 in August 1969, the same week it was Number 3 in the UK. It has been claimed that Dolan was the first Irish star to appear on Top of the Pops,[18] although this supposes that neither The Bachelors nor Val Doonican appeared on the show between 1964 and 1969 (which seems at least doubtful given that both had several big hits in both the UK and Ireland in the mid-'sixties). After the recording of Make Me An Island, Dolan was approached and signed by the MAM Agency whose major star was Tom Jones.[19]

Follow-up singles "Teresa" and "You're Such a Good Looking Woman" also made an impact. Other single releases such as "It Makes No Difference" and "You and the Looking Glass" were not big hits at home in Ireland or in the UK, but they were international successes. A collaboration with writers Roberto Danova and Peter Yellowstone in the mid-1970s produced more singles which made little impact on the British domestic market but did well internationally. "Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller" (1974) was the first of a number of reasonable successes for this team but wasn't a major hit in the UK until later recorded by Showaddywaddy, who had a Top 20 hit with the song in 1979.

His next single, "Lady in Blue" was his biggest ever hit, winning five gold records and selling one million copies.[14] It charted in parts of continental Europe, Africa and South America but not in Ireland or the UK. Further hits including "Crazy Woman", "Sister Mary", "Midnight Lover", "Hush Hush Maria" and "I Need You" followed. Reflective songs such as "If I Could Put My Life on Paper" were a collaborative attempt to show a more maturing artist, whilst definitive versions of songs such as "Danny Boy" maintained a touch of Irish on disc and in concert. In any given month Dolan could be touring the Middle East one week, Australia the next, then South Africa and then back to Europe and Ireland. Further international successes and tours followed, with hits such as "More and More" and "It's You, It's You, It's You".

With his own record label, studio and material Dolan became one of the biggest selling independent artists of the 1990s with albums such as 'Endless Magic' keeping him near the top of the charts. At the end of the decade he refined his voice for the 21st century when he hooked up with EMI for a series of albums (such as Joe's 90s, 21st Century Joe and Home Grown) which saw him tackle more contemporary music from acts as diverse as Oasis, Pulp, Blur, U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Coral, R.E.M., Mundy and his old pal Robbie Williams. At the Oxegen Festival 2009, Blur's Damon Albarn dedicated the song "The Universal" to Dolan.

Dolan's health began to decline after he underwent a hip replacement in 2005, which put him off the road for 12 months and led to the discovery of Type 2 Diabetes which appeared to account for the low energy levels he had been experiencing.[26] Following a discussion with Keith Duffy of the boyband Boyzone, the hip bone which was replaced was signed and auctioned for €650, the proceeds being given to Irish Autism Action. Dolan returned to his schedule in 2006, but he began to report further signs of low energy.[27] Doctors diagnosed a low blood platelet count and Dolan began a series of blood transfusions, After each, he felt better for a period, but would begin to feel weaker after a period. At this same time, Dolan was also suffering from unexplained nosebleeds.[28] In Autumn 2007, on advice from his doctors, Dolan cancelled his Vicar Street concerts due to "exhaustion".[29]

On 16 December 2007, the front page of the Sunday Independent reported that Dolan was suffering from a "bad virus" and had been forced to cancel his entire Christmas tour.[30] Dolan's website received messages from well wishers in the wake of the article, which was reproduced in several newspapers the following day. Despite the blood transfusions and other medical interventions, Dolan became weaker and he was finally discharged from the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin on 23 December 2007 in a wheelchair.[28]

Dolan spent Christmas Day 2007 at his home in Foxrock in southeast Dublin with some friends. Later that evening, his illness suddenly worsened, and he was rushed by ambulance to the Mater Hospital. En route to the hospital, Dolan suffered a massive intracerebral haemorrhage, at which he became unconscious, and was connected to life support equipment upon his arrival. At approximately 14:30 hours on St Stephen's Day, surrounded by family and friends, the machines were switched off[28] and Dolan died within 20 minutes, never regaining consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 15:03 hours.[31] He was 68 years old.

His funeral mass was held at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, on 29 December 2007. Attendees of Dolan's funeral included singer Ronnie Drew from The Dubliners, comedian Frank Carson, snooker player Dennis Taylor and former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

Grave of Joe Dolan at Walshestown Cemetery, Mullingar

Dolan is interred in Walshestown Cemetery, Walshestown North, County Westmeath.[32]

• The Answer to Everything (1968) (credited to Joe Dolan and the Drifters Showband)
• Make Me an Island (1969)
• You're Such a Good Lookin' Woman (1970)
• Lady in Blue (1975)
• Sister Mary (1976)
• Midnight Lover (1978)
• Turn Out the Light (1979)
• More and More (1982)
• Here and Now (1983)
• Always on My Mind (1985)
• This is My Life (1987)
• Always Loved You (1990)
• Can't Give Enough (1994)
• Endless Magic (1997)
• Joe's 90's (1998)
• 21st Century Joe (1999)
• Home Grown (2003)
• Double 'O' Joe (2004)
• Let There Be Love (2007)

• Joe Dolan's Greatest Hits (1968)
• Golden Hour of Joe Dolan - Vol. 1 (1974)
• Golden Hour of Joe Dolan - Vol. 2 (1975)
• I Need You (And Other Great Hits) (1979)
• Joe Dolan At His Best (1980)
• The Story of Joe Dolan (1993)
• The Singles+ (1998)
• No Better Man - His Greatest Hits (2001)
• Yours Faithfully (2003)
• Make Me An Island - The Pye Anthology (2004)
• Legends of Irish Music (2007)
• The Platinum Collection (2008)
• Joe Dolan, Orchestrated (2016)[39]
• Joe Dolan, Orchestrated Volume 2 (2017)

Others

• 1966: "I'll Sit on Your Doorstep"
• 1970: "The Boola Boola"
• 1971: "Sometimes a Man Just Has to Cry"
• 1971: "You and the Looking Glass"
• 1972: "Here We Go Again"
• 1974: "16 Brothers"
• 1975: "Crazy Woman"
• 1978: "Unchained Melody"
• 1978: "Don't Ever Change Your Mind"
• 1994: "Somebody to Call My Girl"
• 1996: "I'll Give All My Love to You"
• 1997: "Endless Magic"
• 1998: "Disco 2000"
• 1998: "Place Your Hands"
• 1999: "Everybody Hurts"
• 1999: "Brilliant Disguise"
• 2001: "Better Man"
• 2002: "Dreaming of You"
• 2003: "Yours Faithfully"
• 2004: "Little Green Bag"
• 2007: Joe Dolan Tribute EP (4 tracks)
• 2008: "Oh Holy Night"