Billy Mac still rocking

Sixty-six years old and going strong - Billy Mac, aka Bill McAuley, is a well known character on the local music scene.Having been part of The Classic Showband during the late fifties and sixties, he now holds a regular DJ spot on Midlands 103 and is most widely known for his rocking annual concerts in aid of the Carers' Association, the most recent of which saw the Greville Arms packed to the rafters last month.Billy grew up in the era of the "showband", and other greats such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles, but it is old time rock 'n' roll which is still holds the key to his heart."The very first record I bought was a track by Little Richard called "Lucille" back in the 1950's," says Billy."It was the birth of rock 'n' roll that time and Little Richard would have been one of my heroes, as well as the Fats Domino - both still alive. Chuck Berry was another," he continued."Of course Elvis Presley came along then. We all wanted to be like Elvis: we were looking into the mirror and combing our hair - we were all Elvis!"The Beatles followed after that and the Rolling Stones were still on the go. Now the new wave today is U2 and Coldplay and girl and boy bands. So I came through all of that era. But if you ask me what my preference is, it's still the old time rock 'n 'roll. Status Quo are my biggest heroes."Billy got involved in the music scene when a thing called "skiffle groups" were doing the rounds in Mullingar:"The skiffle was a type of washboard which was in bands back in the day I got involved. Then came along the "beat groups", like The Beatles, The Hollies and The Searchers."We used to play at Tennis Club hops and the Parochial Hall with Christy Maye. Then around 1958 I got involved in with one of the famous legends in Mullingar - Dinny Hughes."He played saxophone and he had his own family band and I became the lead singer with them."From there Billy joined The Classic Showband in 1964 until 1971."We used to copy all the top ten hits at the time and we'd practice on a Monday night, and we'd have a dance on maybe a Tuesday night. I would have to have at least four or five of the 'Top Ten' off by heart."One of my fondest memories was playing in the Lake County with The Classic. They had two ballrooms at that time and every Friday night, there would be Christy Maye on one side and the Classic on the other."The admission was a red ten shilling note and there could have been 1300 people there."We toured the country a lot and we played a few stints with Joe Dolan."What I loved at the time was playing the marquees, with roughly an average of 2000 people a night, and that was mostly along the West of Ireland. We were semi-pro then so we would have to come home and get ready for work the next morning. It was tough going"However, in 1971, The Classic Showband parted ways, and so Billy entered one of the darkest periods of his life."I was a lead singer so when the band broke up, things went from bad to worse and I got heavily involved with drink."But in 1982 Billy faced his demons and has been 28 years sober. And then in 1992 Billy was asked to come out of retirement and perform a few numbers for a fundraising gig, which was the start of a new life for Billy."Now I hadn't been on stage since the early 1970s, but I went down anyway and did my Status Quo bit with my blue jeans and my hat. The next day, the phones never stopped going and a man called Sean Kenny who played with The Drifters and The Times Showband, asked me to do a Saturday night rock 'n' roll stint. So we got this thing going and it grew out of all proportion."Mullingar has a proud history of talented bands and Billy says he has yet to find a town in Ireland that has such a depth of talent:"There's great talent out there in the town, I mean you have The Blizzards, The Aftermath, Peter Doran, Darragh Glennon: the town is walking with talent," says Billy."And even since the time I was involved in the 50s and 60s, you had Joe Dolan there, you had myself with The Classic Showband, there was The Times Showband, and of course The Swarbriggs."The Swarbriggs lasted roughly ten years on the scene, and in that 10 years they had 15 top ten hits, they had five number ones, and represented Ireland twice in the Eurovision, now no one can match that record."And that's what our town has produced, we are blessed with the talent we have in town.And we are lucky that we have places like The Stables which is a great stomping ground for young bands and musicians trying to make their name in the town."So I'm proud to be a Mullingar man and I live for my own town."