Connacht Tribune
Golden Trumpet man Johnny Carroll marks 60 years in showbiz
Not many can boast that they have been performing professionally for six decades – but that is the milestone that Johnny Carroll will be celebrating in a tribute night in Salthill in a few weeks’ time.
His fans call him ‘the man with the golden trumpet’ and he not only made his mark on the Irish scene but internationally, having met some of the greats in music including Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Jim Reeves, Roy Orbison and Chubby Checker — the man behind The Twist.
A Roscommon man by birth, Galway has been his home for the past 40 years. And little did the 13 year old boy know – when he first expressed an interest in the trumpet in his home town of Castlerea – that it would be his passport to success.
Contemplating on his life and career in the lead-up to his tribute night in the Salthill Hotel on Thursday, September 21, he recalls the hardship of going on the road at such a tender age but quickly adds that he wouldn’t change a minute of it.
He believes in fate and often wonders if he hadn’t been overheard playing the trumpet in his kitchen by a passing band member, might he have followed his father into the painting trade.
“I don’t think so. Once I picked up that instrument, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else and when I got the opportunity a few years later to go on the road with the band, my parents couldn’t stop me because they knew how much I wanted to play music.
“In those days (the fifties) most of the bands were pioneers so at least my parents didn’t have to worry about that.
“But as there was no dancing allowed in Ireland during Lent bands went to England and I went with them. They were a hard few weeks going from one town to another playing to mostly Irish crowds.
“I loved every minute it. I loved meeting people and being on stage even if it was from 9pm till 2am. There were no relief bands in those days. We used take it in turns to have a little tea break but I didn’t mind. I knew this was what I wanted to do,” Johnny remembers.
Sitting in his salubrious home on the outskirts of the city, he knows how far he has come but appreciates that the music business has been good to him, certainly better than what a trade in a rural town would have gained him.
The Premier Aces was one of the first Irish bands to tour the US in an era when venues were massive and hundreds danced the night away. They also topped the charts in Ireland and the UK.
He stayed with The Premier Aces until he decided it was time to start his own band and move to Galway, where he knew he would have a greater chance at establishing himself as a musician.
The Magic Band was different because it was fronted by a singer whose costume was lit up. As it was Johnnny’s band, he was finally running his own show.
The Premier Aces had brought out a few albums but by now Johnny was synonymous with his trumpet so it seemed natural for him to bring out solo albums — he has 15 in all under his belt.
“I played instrumental versions of well-known songs from Danny Boy to The West’s Awake and every hotel, restaurant and B&B in the country played it and sure guests started asking where they could get it,” he says.
There were TV guest appearances and requests to play at special event. He embraced all of this because he felt it was meant for him.
And while his musical career was on the up, tragedy was to strike on the domestic front when his beautiful wife Stella, the mother of their four children, died after a short diagnosis of breast cancer at the age of 37.
He tearfully recalls how most of the next decade was heartache for him as he kept working at his career while rearing children, aged from seven to 14, on his own.
“I had no family here in Galway and we had just built this house (referring to his Salthill home). We were only in it a few years when she died. Bills had to be paid, I had to stay on the road. It was hard. Those were the days before mobile phones. I remember ringing home from pay phones to check in on them.”
He is very proud of his children, all grown up now though none followed him into the music business. But they have given him seven grandchildren, aged from 19 to a few weeks old, whom he adores.
He remembers driving on bad roads around Ireland in second hand vans that often broke down.
Bands on the road would head home after playing for hours from venues in the far corners of Ireland.
“I remember one night the van broke down in Abbeyfeale in Kerry. I got a lift home but the lads stayed in the freezing van until I returned the following day with a tow truck.
“People wouldn’t live that life now. I remember too the first house we bought in Highfield Park. Stella and I lived downstairs and we turned the upstairs into two small flats. We had no choice as the mortgage interest rates were double digits at the time.
“Life was hard. I remember long journeys to gigs and the kids would be in bed when I got home and I’d still be in bed when they left for school. That’s how it was for showbands at the time.”
He has a strong faith and is grateful that he always had good health, something which is crucial when you are self-employed.
He also believes he was lucky when he met Ann, his second wife at a gig in her family’s hotel in West Limerick.
“I believe she was an angel sent to me. . . I’ve had a good life, no doubt,” he says in a room adorned with his two golden discs and family photographs.
His highlights are reaching Number One in the Irish Charts with Oh Mein Papa, playing The West’s Awake when Galway won the three All Irelands in the 80s and meeting and sometimes playing with some of his musical heroes.
Johnny says he has no regrets as he believes everyone’s life is set out for them, as his was and continues to be. There’s longevity in his family genes as his mother Rose turns 102 the same week as his tribute concert.
“No, it’s not my swansong. There’s life in the old dog yet,” he laughs.
Tickets for the gig which feature a host of guest musicians are on sale in The Salthill Hotel, Des Kavanagh Electrical, Tom Dempsey’s in Oranmore and Quinn’s Newsagents in Tuam.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
