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Sunday World
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Showband star says he only had eyes for one woman despite ‘sea of screaming girls'
'She would then remind me in her well-spoken accent that 'if I ever catch you misbehaving, I will kill you.'' HE was one of the pin-up idols of the Miami Showband in the 1960s, leaving screaming female fans in his wake at ballrooms around the country. Today, musician Des Lee looks back on those heady days in his autobiography, My Saxophone Saved My Life, and tells how he only had eyes for one woman. Des, who survived the 'Miami Showband Massacre' when three of his band mates were murdered returning from a gig in the North in July 1975, also reveals that while the showband era in Ireland was a fun time for fans, it was often a cut-throat industry for those working in it. He tells how the ballroom owners and band management raked in the cash as thousands flocked to the dance halls, while many of the stars and musicians were on an average wage. In his book, Des reveals that one member of The Miami was sacked after seeking a pay rise – as a warning to the other musicians. But back to the girl fans, Belfast-born Des insists that his head was never turned as he was besotted with his then Cork girlfriend, Brenda O'Driscoll, who later became his wife. Des and Brenda on their wedding day He says Brenda totally accepted his life on the road, despite the fact that it prevented them for seeing each other on a regular basis. 'Her understanding of the life I had chosen and all the inconvenience that went with it left me in no doubt that I had someone special in my life,' Des writes. 'The screaming girls at the gigs never bothered her and she regularly joked, 'What the eye don't see, the heart don't feel.' 'She would then remind me in her well-spoken accent that 'if I ever catch you misbehaving, I will kill you.'' Lee, aka McAlea, had started out his working life as a salesman for a plumbing company before turning professional as a musician. He recalls how he met Brenda on a blind date after moving to Cork to join a group called the Regal Showband. 'One night, Mick Ahearne, the lead guitarist in the band, sensed that all was not well with me. The enthusiasm I showed when I first arrived in Cork had lessened somewhat and Mick noticed that something in me had changed. Des Lee 'Mick asked if I was alright. He said, 'You don't look very happy.' I told him I was homesick. Realising that perhaps what I needed was company to pass my precious free time away in Cork City, he suggested I might like to go on a blind date. I thought, 'why not?' 'Mick knew a lady called Brenda O'Driscoll, from Anglesea Street in the city. She was 21 and was a dedicated fan of the Regal Showband. 'Brenda would regularly attend the band's gigs, although she had not gone to any shows I had played in at that stage. 'Mick had a chat with Brenda and clearly made a successful sales pitch on my behalf. He arranged for me to meet her outside the GPO in Cork, just off St Patrick's Street, on a Monday evening in the summer of 1965. Mick told me she would be driving a blue Ford Anglia, reg: TIF 151.' The pair hit it off and their relationship began. 'Brenda and I met again and again and again. The more we met, the more I could feel the relationship getting stronger. On my nights off, we would go to see other bands performing, such as the Dixies from Cork, Butch Moore and the Capitol Showband, Joe Dolan and the Drifters, and more.' Performing in the Arcadia Ballroom in 1968 He played a gig the night before his wedding and afterwards the band gave him a pre-wedding night 'present.' He writes: 'Unknown to me, the band had planned something I would never forget. They forced me onto the floor, pulled down my pants, and, with a black marker pen, scribbled 'it's here Brenda,' with an arrow pointing towards my private parts. I couldn't believe it. The lads in the band were bursting their sides laughing. It was all good fun and we all took it in the spirit it was meant. The Miami Showband massacre. 'However, when I stood up, put my pants back on and recovered dignity, I had a slight problem to deal with it. The ink on my body wouldn't wash off.' Their marriage stood the test of the trials and tribulations of life until Brenda's passing 36 years later from cancer. Des told the Sunday World in recent years: 'In 36 years of marriage we never had one serious argument, and not many people can say that. I still talk to Brenda every day. I still believe she's part of my life. 'When I lost Brenda I hit the bottle. I was drinking far too much alcohol. I do believe that if I continued I would have killed myself. If the truth be known, I would say that I was an alcoholic and that is a tough thing to admit. 'When you are drinking a bottle of gin or a bottle of vodka every day you've got a big problem. Giving it up is one of the best decisions I ever made in life.' DES Lee's autobiography, My Saxophone Saved My Life, will be published on July 27.
Irish Daily Mirror
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Brian Warfield believes there was plot to bomb bus before Miami Showband attack
The Wolfe Tones singer Brian Warfield has revealed he believes there was a plot to blow up the band's bus a week before The Miami Showband attack. The 50th anniversary of The Miami Showband attack will take place on July 31, which marks the day a fake British Army patrol, comprising of UVF members and Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers, stopped the band's minibus on the A1 road near Newry. A bomb, meant to explode later, detonated prematurely, killing two of the attackers. The remaining attackers then opened fire on the band, resulting in the deaths of three members: singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty, and trumpeter Brian McCoy. Two other band members, Des McAlea and Stephen Travers, were injured but survived. Now Mr Warfield says he believes The Wolfe Tones were also a target but the Glenanne gang but they escaped a roadblock being set up with the help of the local community. He told us: 'We were almost caught in a roadblock by the Glenanne gang. Only for the local community who steered us away from the blockade that was somewhere down the road on the way to Warrenpoint and they took us over the Mourne Mountains. 'We were playing in a marquee at a GAA club. It was later when we came off stage after the gig, one of the organisers called me over and said, 'you can't go home the main road tonight'. I asked why and said there was a roadblock down the road, and you are in danger. 'We avoided that roadblock. The Miami (Showband) were caught on the following Wednesday at a similar roadblock. I feel what they were trying to do was plant a bomb in our bus. 'The people with the local knowledge up there…. They knew what was happening. We were lucky we had friends on the right side where they could warn us whereas The Miami (Showband) probably didn't. After The Miami event, people said we didn't go up North, but we did. We brought different ways, we were met at different borders. 'We were brought down in hay trucks, we were in an armoured car at one stage. Sometimes they would split us up so we wouldn't be all caught together.' The Celtic Symphony hitmaker also praised Kneecap 'for their courage' – as he described Keir Starmer as a 'weak leader'. Last week, the UK Prime Minister said Kneecap's performing at Glastonbury was inappropriate after Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail after appearing in a London court on a terror charge. Mr Warfield said: 'The way they are attacking that young band… and fair play to Kneecap for their courage. They went out there and put their heart where they mouth was. 'I heard Keir Starmer's comments. He is kind of a weak leader. We've been talking about Palestine for years and brought Palestine flags on stage. 'It is important that we don't let bullies of this world stab people to death without mentioning a word about it. If we let the Israeli's away with stabbing those people, who is going to be next? 'I think Kneecap are a young band starting off and I'm happy that they are doing well and they are making a statement. They are doing the right thing. I mean we went through the Troubles in the North and we had to call out things back then, the wrongs that were happening. 'We got blacklisted for that, we never got played on radio. A lot of things happened that wouldn't happen to a young band if we had stayed quiet. We weren't that type of band. When we saw wrong, we called it out.' But Mr Warfield said he has 'no regrets'. 'No absolutely no regrets. I'd do it all over again. You have to make a statement and support what you believe in.'
Sunday World
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Miami Showband massacre survivor says horror of that night will never leave him
'LIVING NIGHTMARE' | Almost 50 years ago, on July 31, 1975, Stephen was seriously injured and witnessed the brutal murders of three band mates in one of the most notorious incidents of The Troubles Almost 50 years ago, on July 31, 1975, Stephen was seriously injured and witnessed the brutal murders of three band mates in one of the most notorious incidents of The Troubles. As The Miami were returning to Dublin from a gig in the North that summer, they were stopped by a loyalist paramilitary group outside Newry. As the band members stood beside their van, two UVF men attempted to plant a bomb inside it, with the intention that it would explode as the Miami continued their journey to Dublin. The extremists were trying to portray the hugely popular showband as Republican bomb-smugglers working on behalf of the IRA. What ensued was carnage as a bomb prematurely went off while the paramilitaries were planting it in the group's bandwagon. The scene in the aftermath of the attack Only two of the five band members, Stephen and Des Lee, survived the horrific slaughter after being left for dead. Singer Fran O'Toole (29) and musicians Tony Geraghty (23) and Brian McCoy (23) were shot as they begged for their lives. Two of the paramilitaries also died in the explosion. Stephen, who was then only 24 and had heard his bandmates pleading to be spared before being murdered, says his personality was completely changed by the atrocity. Miami Showband massacre survivor Stephen Travers can never distance himself from the atrocity Today's News in 90 Seconds - May 5th He says: 'I was diagnosed several years ago with Enduring Personality Change, something I had never heard of. Basically, you go into an incident one person and come out another person. The psychiatrist said: 'It is so intense it changes you completely.' 'My wife, Anne, said 'I learned to live with and love a different person.' Without her I wouldn't be here today. She was only 21 at the time.' Stephen tells the Sunday World that he can never distance himself from the shocking events of that night, which will be marked by a major memorial concert featuring legendary Irish musicians in Dublin's Vicar Street on September 28, with all proceeds going to the Irish Cancer Society. Atrocities happening around the world, particularly in Gaza, trigger his own personal experiences. 'I can intensely feel the hurt,' Stephen says solemnly. 'When you see bodies blown up all over the place on the ground, I've seen that. I crawled for the best part of an hour on the field trying to avoid the body parts of the men who were after trying to kill us to get to our own lads… trying to stand up and falling down. So I know what these people are going through. Thousands turn out for the funeral of Fran O'Toole in Bray, Co Wicklow in 1975 'People talk about flashbacks and memories and things like that. I don't have flashbacks and memories, it's always there. 'PTSD for me is to be drawn too close to that, where it is a trigger that is very difficult to pull yourself away from it. But if you do want to talk about it you can actually look at that and see it happening and actually tell the story in real time.' And how do you feel afterwards? 'Sometimes it can be really, really draining because you are reliving the trauma in real time.' Stephen says people are in danger of being desensitised to the suffering of people caught up in war zones when it's constantly in the news. 'I know we have to see it, but the danger is we are normalising it,' he says. 'The minute the newscaster says, 'In Gaza today…' you expect to see bodies and children crying and people being rushed into hospitals without limbs.' The Miami Showband Massacre, which has been the subject of a Netflix documentary, will never be forgotten in the history of Irish music. 'We are written into the history books for all the wrong reasons,' Stephen acknowledges. 'I'd rather if we weren't, but if we are then we are going to turn our story into something good… that it can show us the futility of violence, the horror of sectarianism, bigotry and all of these things and that there is a much better way.' In September, Stephen will publish a self-written book of his remarkable journey in life and the tragic events that shaped it. Called The Bass Player, Anthem For The Innocent, it is also set to be the source of a major new documentary currently in discussions.
