Mullingar man who was Dickie Rock's drummer has great memories of star

The Mullingar man who was drummer with Irish singing star Dickie Rock for 33 years has this week paid tribute to the performer who died on Friday last, December 6, at the age of 88 – and shared his memories of a man he remembers for his good humour and his generosity.

Danny O’Keeffe, of Gleann Petit, who had played with Sandy Jones, Johnny Logan and Brendan Grace was approached by Dickie Rock’s musical director and asked if he would join a new band that Dickie was forming.

“That was around 1986. And I was with him then after that [until Dickie’s retirement], Danny told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

It was the start of a heady time: “I toured the world with him,” says Danny, who comes originally from Crumlin.

They played New York, Boston, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Venice, all over Spain; all over the UK, Thailand.

“He was absolutely incredible,” says Danny. “All this thing about being mean, he loved, he loved pushing that because he wasn’t mean at all.

“He once, paid for a full holiday for myself and my wife, picked us up at the airport in Spain, booked a hotel for a week, picked us up at the airport, parked on the footpath to pick us up at the airport, took us to the hotel, brought us out that Saturday to the biggest restaurant in Fuengirola, paid for everything.

“And then we were in Thailand, on a golf trip, I borrowed some money from him because you could get a lot of great stuff really cheap there, and I didn’t have credit cards then, you know, you had to have money. So I borrowed a couple of hundred euro equivalent in baht, and he just handed it to me and said, ‘That’s not a loan Danny, that’s a present, that’s a thank you for coming on the gig.”

Collinstown, Ballymore, Moate, Mullingar: there can hardly be a parish in Westmeath that hasn’t at some stage hosted a gig by Dickie Rock.

One of the first gigs he played in Westmeath was in November 1963, when alongside the rest of The Miami Showband, he played at Lough Lene Hall in Collinstown, at the Lough Lene Anglers Association’s second annual dance.

He was a regular at the Lakeland Ballroom in Mullingar, the Roseland in Moate.

Musician Jimmy Swarbrigg also has fond memories of Dickie, whom he got to know well when he travelled with The Swarbriggs during the ‘Reeling in the Showband Years’ tours.

“He was nice, energetic and always a great crowd pleaser,” Jimmy said this week.

Former public representative, showband member and manager, Donie Cassidy from Castlepollard, also has memories of the singer.

Donie and his wife Anne, née Geraghty from Ballymore, went to their first dance in the Television Club on Harcourt Street, Dublin. “That was the first time I heard Dickie and the Miami showband,” he told the Westmeath Examiner.

Donie remembers Dickie as “an incredible singer with a lovely round voice and velvet tones,” but also as “a very nice person, no airs or graces about him”.

In 1966, Dickie represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest with Come Back to Stay. Although he did not win, he received a hero’s welcome at Dublin Airport when he got home.

Donie recalled that the song that launched Dickie as a superstar was The Candy Store on the Corner. “Everyone was singing it, every postman was singing it, and when the postman is singing your song, you know you have a hit,” Donie laughed. Dickie was in every carnival and every dance hall around the country, he said.

He recalled that Dickie met his wife Judy in the Ierne Ballroom in Dublin. “Dickie was playing there and, coming to the end of the show, Christy Gunn, promoter and MC, would announce forthcoming gigs and give out free passes. Dickie whispered into his ear that he wanted to meet the girl on the left-hand side, and that is how he met his wife,” he said.

The Ierne Ballroom was a popular spot at the time, it was where Pascal Mooney met his wife too, Donie revealed. Jim Tobin and the Firehouse, of which Donie was a member, had a residency in the Ierne.

Dickie Rock is considered by many to be Ireland’s first pop superstar. He and the Miami showband filled ballrooms across the country and the phrase “spit on me Dickie!” was coined.

“When he went solo, he became an “outstanding entertainer at cabaret level where the whole industry was moving,” Donie remarked.

“It is a sad loss to the industry, but Dickie had a long life and was still entertaining up until two years ago when his wife Judy died,” he said.