Before his tragic passing, radio star and musician Paddy Cole spoke to RSVP Country on his beginnings in music, life in Las Vegas and his health battle.
In this interview, read all about his father teaching him the saxophone, the highs of his career and how he tried to be as positive as possible in the face of his cancer journey.
My father played in an orchestra in the late 50s.
He revolutionised the music scene by standing up and getting rid of the music stands. He used to teach me the sax when I came home from school. At the time, the guys used to be outside playing football and I hated being inside practising.
I played alongside Brendan Bowyer, Tom Dunphy and Twink in The Big Eight.
We played a residency in Las Vegas for about 12 years. We spent eight or nine months of the year over there before playing the summer season at home in Ireland. Vegas was brilliant. We got to meet people we had only ever read about and people whose recordings we bought. The Royal Showband came before us and they were extremely popular. Everyone in the band were great entertainers and brilliant musicians. It was a pleasure to work with them all.
Everyone wanted to see the band that was just back from Vegas when we got home.
We played to packed venues around Ireland, it was the ideal situation. We played in ballrooms everywhere – they were fantastic days.
My wife Helen and I knew we’d never settle in Vegas.
Our son started going to school. We lived as far away from the strip as well as we could so we could have some semblance of a normal life. The wives did the school runs. We were home in Ireland on a break and I turned to Helen over a cup of tea and said that we had had enough. She was thrilled because she missed experiencing the seasons. Everything was the same weather wise all year round. I’m glad we did it and we made great memories and great friends. I’ve been back there since and the whole place has changed. I’ve a niece out there at the moment as well. The Stardust, where we played, has been knocked down and the whole place is so different. Las Vegas was always a fake city, it didn’t feel real. But we enjoyed it until we had enough.
When I got home I started The Paddy Cole Superstars.
Some of The Big 8, including Twink, joined me when they decided to stay at home as well. That was a great band with great musicians. We did most of our work in the North and we did most of our work up there until, unfortunately, The Miami Showband massacre happened. All dancing stopped in the North after that and we were nearly off the road. We ended up being the first band back playing up there again after that tragedy and we were welcomed back with open arms by both sides of the community. Everyone was delighted to see performances back on again.
That was a scary time.
Tom Dunphy was killed in a car crash the same week as The Miami Showband massacre happened. We spent the whole week going to funerals, it was terrible.
I love the interaction with my listeners on my radio show on Sunshine 106.8.
I’m off for a few weeks while I go through treatment for my illness. Joe Harrington steps in for me while I’m off. I got hundreds of get well cards, emails and messages into the station after I revealed I was ill. People are very nice and they mean well.
My health isn’t good.
My cancer is incurable. The objective at the moment is to contain it and sometimes that’s good and sometimes it’s not. I’m never really out of the woods and it’s something I’ve to put up with. I try to put my best side out there and stay as positive as I can be.
I try to live life to the fullest.
I do that to the extent that I can, but I am very tired all the time while trying to go through treatment. I get up every morning and I try to go for a walk around Herbert Park, here beside my home in Dublin. I like to get the paper, doze off for a bit and then go out with my wife in the afternoon. I try to stay active where I can.
I’ve had a lot of career highlights.
We did Sunday Night at the London Palladium. At the time, 30 million people tuned in to watch that show from all over Europe. I played alongside musicians that I collected records of in New Orleans. I’ve been able to meet people that I admire while
also seeing the world, visiting places such as Jamaica, Qatar and Dubai.
This article first appeared in RSVP Country in November 2024.
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