Country music's Brendan Quinn on life's highs and lows, losing his sister, and his family

3 weeks ago 9

I had an older sister called Philomena and she passed away a few months ago.

She was a great singer and she used to perform in the pantomimes and local functions. She sang with a local céilí band as well. She used to sing popular music around the house and I would follow her around and sing along with her. I remember my mother shouting up to my bedroom one night, telling me to go to bed and stop singing.

I grew up in the mid-50s when rock’n’ roll was just starting.

I loved listening to Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. I had a wide musical taste and I just happened to fall into the country genre. I did a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s Help Me Make It Through the Night and it was released by Velvet Records. It got its first play on Raidió Éireann on a Saturday. There was a programme called Airs and Graces hosted by Val Joyce. If you got played on that show then you knew you were big stuff.

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The music scene has changed a lot.

Raidió Éireann and BBC Northern Ireland were the only radio stations. It was very hard in the world of country music and there was no outlet to get played. If you got played once a week, that was the height of it. Eventually the pirate stations started up and then they got licences to become the local stations we know today like Clare FM, Radio Kerry and Midwest Radio. Country was played a lot then.

It’s a different ball game now.

There is instant communication available and artists can record their own singles and albums from their bedrooms.

I’ve been at this for 60 years.

I started The Bluebirds in 1976 and we had a good run for about 10 years. I spent four years working in Canada in the early 80s, I brought the whole family with me. I got a contract for a club in Vancouver. That was a big highlight for me. We got to move countries and the kids got to mix with different nationalities. It was a good move at the time and it definitely broadened their minds.

I met a guy called Jim Halsey.

At the time, he was the biggest country empresario in America, he handled all the big acts like George Jones and Don Williams. I met him at the Wembley Festival in 1980 and he introduced himself to me backstage. He said he ran a festival in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma called Mayfest. He asked us to enter an international music competition at the event. We entered it and we won. We got a $10,000 prize and a slot on a local TV show. We went back later that year for a full month tour around Tulsa and Reno.

Sixty years is a long time to be in music, there have been ups and downs.

I was busted in the 80s for possession of a controlled substance. It was big news at the time and it made all of the papers. That was a bit of downer because I lost all of my gigs for a while and people disowned me. It was a terrible time. I lost my band because six of us were arrested on the one day. Saying that, I didn’t really care. I didn’t do anything wrong, I broke the law but it wasn’t morally wrong. They just made an example of me because of who I was.

I’m blessed with my family.

I’ve four kids, the eldest is 52 years of age and the youngest is 44. We’ve four grandchildren as well. My granddaughter is going to be a star. I’ve seen videos of her performing at home and she’s great. They’re all great kids.

The country scene in Ireland is very vibrant with the young stars.

There are loads of kids trying to make it. I can empathise with them all because I did the same thing myself in the early days. I was never off the road and it’s the same for the rising stars. It’s more difficult in that there are a lot of acts trying to make it and they’re all selling dance and concert tickets, and Ireland is a small market. It’s not easy. The cost of living has shot up as well, and that’s a factor.