Who: Jim McCann
Born: Oct 26th 1944
Lead vocal, guitar
Member of the Dubliners:1974-1979

Former Dubliner Jim McCann on Tour. A superb voice, and a great entertainer!

By Peter Boone
Jim McCann is one of Ireland's longest-serving and best-loved entertainers. Having traded in the life of a medical student at UCD for that of a travelling musician in the early 1960s, he now celebrates 35 years in show business. Jim's first love was Rock �n'Roll, and he freely admits that his first influences were Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly. While working on a Summer holiday job in Birmingham in 1964, he became interested in folk music, and began performing as a "floor singer" around the many folk clubs in that area. He began to be booked as a featured singer in his own right, and on his return to Ireland in 1965 he joined a folk group called the LUDLOW TRIO, named after a Woody Guthrie song. The folk boom was by then in full swing, and the Ludlows were one of the top three Irish folk acts, along with the DUBLINERS and the WOLFE TONES. In 1966 they had a huge hit with Dominic Behan's "The Sea Around Us", which was the first record of its type to become a number one in Ireland.
The Ludlows disbanded in 1967 and Jim embarked on a solo career, releasing his first single "Some Day Soon", an album entitled "McCann", and appearing on early Telefis Eireann folk programmes. In 1968 he joined the cast of Maureen Potter's "Gaels of Laughter" at the Galety Theatre, and when the five month run was over he returned to England. For the next two years he sang with great success around the vast English folk club circuit, and made regular appearances on BBC radio and TV, returning to lreland in 1970.
Back on the Irish scene, Jim released his second album "McCanned" and launched into a hectic round of gigs during which he made a TV special called "Reflections of Jim McCann", and a TV series called "The McCann Man". One of Jim's guests on the series was his friend , the late Luke Kelly of the DUBLINERS. This was prophetic. In 1973 Jim broke new ground when he joined the original cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar". Jim played Peter, and the cameo part of Herod was played by Luke Kelly, when he wasavaillable. During the run of the show Jim was asked to temporarily join the DUBLINERS because of the illness of Ciaron Bourke, and he agreed. When Ronnie Drew decided to go solo, Jim was invited to become a permanent member.
For the rest of the �70s Jim toured the world with the "Dubs" and with them made many albums and countless TV shows. During this time he also managed to play the Narrator in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". Jim decided to resume a solo career at the end of 1979, feeling that spending six months of every year away from home was becoming a strain. Since then his career has gone from strength to strength. He has featured on every single light entertainment programma on RTE as well as starring in many TV specials, including "Festival Folk", "My Ireland", "McCann & McTell" etc. There have been more successful albums such as "Live at the Stadium", "Jim McCann", and "Grace & other Irish Love Songs". His album - "From Tara to Here" - is on the K-TEL label has received a GoldDisc. His latest album "By Request" was released last year. There have been a string of hit singles, the best known of which was "Grace", which stayed in the charts for 36 weeks.
The period from 1998 to 2001 appears set fair to be Jim McCann's busiest to date. A whole new generation of young Irish people have "discovered" the music their parents loved so well, and have taken to it with just as much enthusiasm. This busy schedule shows no sign of slowing down, and the demand for appearances by Jim McCann appears likely to continue for many years to come.

Jim McCann discography