Derek Mc Cormack's Irish voice has been described as smooth as a glass of Irish .
His untimely death on a cruise ship out of Florida in 2003 ago almost passed unnoticed .
But if you knew Derek you would undersdand that is probably just the way he would have liked it .
Derek was a humble man with a big talent and packed huge audiences wherever he played .
At approx 9.30pm Irish time Friday 30th January 2003 Derek passed away .
Surrounded by those who admired him and played with him Derek made his final bow and made his exit .
Growing up as a lad Derek lifes was always centered around his family .
His Mother was a great singer she also played the drums . His brother Roy showed him the first chords on the guitar .
Roy was a very good guitarist . Actually it was Dereks uncle who taught Roy the guitar and then Roy taught Derek .
There was only the two boys in the family . Derek and Roy .
When Derek was very young Roy was on already on the stage .
In the very early days of Dereks musical career the Mc Cormack family learnt together new standards .
They loved to play together at different venues .
Derek grew up with the showbands and when he was 18 he joined up with Dermot O’Brien and The Clubmen .That experience was a little awesome for him but he learned a lot back then .
After 12 years in the trio with Dermot on the Cabaret circuit he returned to his folk roots where he became the front man of the new Barleycorn .
The famous Barleycorn had found some fortune and fame from about 1970 or so and in 1982 when Brian Mc Cormack left the band to do his own thing the lads asked Derek to take over and he was very happy to do it .
Then in 1988 Barleycorn toured the world .
They arrived in Australia for the very first time then .
Derek was first heard on Australian Radio when one of the most popular producers in the country picked up a song called Roisin that Derek had performed . The song was an instant hit with many of the listeners to the national radio program called , “ Australia All Over ” that is presented by a fella by the name of Macca .
After Macca played Roisin on his radio show he was
bombarded with weekly requests to play more of Derek Mc Cormack.
The demand was so great that the ABC , i.e. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation released a compilation album that included Roisin by Derek Mc Cormack on it . The CD was a big seller and another big result for Derek was an immediate gathering in of new fans all over the country .
In 1995 after seven very successful albums the other members of Barleycorn decided to go separate ways .
The next project for Derek was a three piece band called Nickelodeon .
Two old friends of Dereks from years back in the showbands , Ronnie Kennedy and Billy Condon where both worked with Daniel O'Donnell .Nickelodeon cut a CD and did a few shows . Things went a lot better than Derek really he expected with Nickelodeon .
Due to Dereks new committments with The Fureys and Daniel O'Donnell call on Ronnie and Billy the popular band
Nickelodeon folded . It was just too hard to keep it going and they couldn’t find the time do the stuff with Nickelodeon , which was a shame because the band had a great sound .
After many years of touring with the Furey's and as the voice of Barleycorn, Derek toured extensively in the USA featuring regularly at major Irish festivals such as Milwaukee and Cleveland and had regularly performed on Cruise ships out of Florida in recent years. Probably that was the last project of Dereks .
Performing on board the cruise ship every January in the Carribean .
An Irish cruise where Derek had loads of fun meeting a lot of Irish entertainers both from Ireland and from U.S.
It was a really big get together and Derek loved to perform there .
I remember he told me once that it was the perfect venue for him .as the people had to listen to his songs ,
because they had nowhere else to go , unless they’d like to swim all the way back to the pier .
That is the sort of Craic you’d get from big Derek who was always very humble about his great gift .
Derek was the typical romantic . A wonderful package of voice and song wrapped up with Irishness .
What Derek loved about the cruise was feedback from other artists and words of support .
This gig gave Derek great motivation and grounding to continue alomg with his music .
In 2000 Derek had realised a lifetime ambition to record and release a solo album entitled , " 'Never Too Far From My Mind' which was to be his only solo album .
Derek possessed one of the most beautiful Irish voices of recent times.
One of the most popular songs on Dereks solo album is entitled "Will You Dance with Me " . This particular song never actually was on the final cut of the Dereks album and when some people asked why it was excluded Derek began to think about puting the song on his album .Then a very talented singer from Ireland called Frances Black who was there with her sister Mary and all the brothers encouraged Derek to put the song on the album . So that was enough for Derek and he added it on to the album .
After his shows there was always a long list of people who stood in line to speak with him .
I found him a quietly spoken man who is very content with life .
He told me he lives near enough to Dundalk to be happy and as far from Dublin to be comfortable with .
Derek will be missed by all his fans worldwide , but his songs will be with us forever.
The End
By Doctor Write
Originally Posted On Site: 2008-03-10 20:12:36
Last Login: 05.21.12
Visits as of 12-12-07: 148
Comments:
|
|||
|
|||
