Liam Clancy

• Liam Clancy
  • Born: September 2, 1935, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
  • Died: December 4, 2009, Cork, Ireland
  • Group Member: 1956-1974 & 1990-1996
  • Reunion tour: 1984-1985

LIAM CLANCY's charm lies partly in his sweet honey voice, partly in his shy smile and partly in his knowing eye. He is tall, husky and handsome with the sunniest of dispositions. The youngest of the group Liam is, for a fact, a charming fellow with the gift of gab and tastes that run to good music, good company, good porter and, as he might put it, the kind of girl you're never quite sure about!

Liam had formal dramatic training at the National College of Arts in Dublin. His interest in folk music was always evident; once commissioned by his brother in the States to collect "ethnic" Irish songs for Pat's recording company. Liam took to the green hills with tape recorder and a newly-awakened relish for Irish folksong.

It was on one of these forays that Liam chanced to meet up with Tommy Makem. The two hit it off immediately, and became fast friends. Coming with Makem to the United States. Liam's professional acting career was launched at the Poet's Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He then appeared in New York in the play adaptation of Frank O'Connor's "Guests of the Nation." Other major stage credits include Brendan Behan's "The Quare Fellow." and the Broadway production of "Little Moon of Alban" with Julie Harris. Liam also appeared in this show on TV's "Hallmark Hall of Fame."

An enterprising young man, Liam is the owner of a block of buildings in the heart of Kilkenny, Ireland, and just recently purchased the oldest pub in Waterford, and two farms not far from Carrick-on-Suir.

Liam is perhaps best cast as a singer of love songs. But however sweet and lilting his solos, they do not lack the acid to set an Anglophile's teeth on edge when he sings such bitter-sweet laments about a divided Ireland as "The Patriot Game."

Source: Concert Program - circa 1966