| Relationships | Members:
Paul Watchorn - vocals, banjo
Shay Kavanagh - guitar
John Sheahan, Gerry O'Connor - banjo
Sean Cannon - vocals, guitar
Past Members:
Ciarán Bourke - vocals, guitar, tin whistle,
Ronnie Drew, Bob Lynch, Jim McCann, Paddy Reilly - vocals, guitar
Luke Kelly - vocals, banjo
Barney McKenna - banjo, mandolin, melodeon, vocals
Eamonn Campbell - guitar, mandolin
Patsy Watchorn - vocals, banjo, bodhrán, spoons |
| Biography | The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners.
The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in Dublin and London in the 1960s. They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". Often performing political songs considered controversial at the time, they drew criticism from some folk purists and Irelands national broadcaster RTÉ had placed an unofficial ban on their music from 1967 to 1971. During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.
In 2012, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards bestowed them with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Dubliners announced their retirement in the autumn of 2012, after 50 years of playing, following the death of the last of the founding members, Barney McKenna. However, the surviving members of the group, with the exception of John Sheahan, continued touring under the name of "The Dublin Legends". As of 2018, Seán Cannon is the only former member still in this group, following Eamonn Campbell's death in 2017. |