Bowyer still going strong

Bowyer still going strong


Country Roads
Michael Commins

FROM his home in Las Vegas three days before the All Ireland hurling final, Brendan Bowyer, the king of showbandland, spoke fondly of his memories of Waterford hurling during his young years down south. He was in great form as he reminisced on those halcyon days of around 50 years ago.
“I recall the golden years in 1957, ‘59 and ‘63’. No one would have believed back then that it would take us another 45 years to reach an All-Ireland Final. I love hurling, always have,” he told me.
Brendan will undertake a 50th anniversary tour in Ireland later this year. He will be a guest on the RTE Late Late Show on September 26.
He and and the Royal Showband blazed a glorious trail out of Waterford in the late 1950s and went on to become the biggest showband in the land. Brendan’s chart topping song, The Hucklebuck, is regarded as the song that best encapsulated the entire showband era.
“We started as The Royal in September, 1957. I had been working in the papermills in Waterford at the time. We did out first gig in the Olympia Ballroom in Waterford. The county hurlers reached the All-Ireland that year and I remember travelling on the papermills bus to Croke Park with my colleagues. We lost by a point to Kilkenny that day. We didn’t have cars at the time.
“Two years later, I was in Croke Park for the drawn game with Kilkenny. The band was going well at that stage and I’ll never forget, we were playing in The Mayfair in Kilkenny that night. Well, we were all back in Croke Park for the replay and Waterford won the Liam McCarthy Cup. It was magic. The Royal were doing a dance show in Courttown Harbour in Wexford that night. We were in mighty form, it was such a special night. We were so proud to be from Waterford.
“The great Kilkenny hurler Eddie Keher has been a special friend of mine for many years. I well remember back in 1963 when Kilkenny beat us by three points in a very high scoring final. Waterford were hot favourites that day but Eddie was on fire. My great friend and band member, the late Tom Dunphy, also a good friend of Eddie’s, made a comment that I never forgot: ‘That wasn’t a hurley Eddie had, it was a rifle!”
Though the entertainment business has seen Brendan share the limelight with some of the biggest names in showbiz (The Beatles once played support to Brendan and The Royal Showband during a show in Liverpool), he still retains a special fondness for the sporting heroes of his teenage years. “Philly Grimes was an amazing player. Seamus Power was great. Tom Cheasty was a great fan of the Royal Showband. He came to many of our gigs. That was a great era in Waterford hurling.
“It was also a golden era for the Waterford soccer team. Great names like Alfie Hale, Seamie Coad and all the lads. I worked with Al Casey in the papermills. He later died in a car accident. They won a lot of League of Ireland trophies back then. They were mostly local lads and we had a special empathy with them.”