|
Gerry
 Gerry
learned how to play guitar while a student in Summerhill College,
Sligo. After graduating he started his career playing guitar
with local pub groups in the Northwest and he got his first taste of
the pro circuit when he joined the Ritchie Fitzgerald Ceili Band on
a tour of England's Irish clubs in early 1974. Later that same year,
he teamed up with a young lady who had just returned from Wales, Philomena Ellis (a.k.a. Sandy
Kelly) in her first Irish band,
Easy Listenin'.
Eventually, Sandy left to
join the Fairways Showband and Gerry relocated to Galway to join the showband scene when he
was named as the original lead guitarist with
Magic and The
Swallows (who would soon be renamed
The Magic Band) in mid 1974.
In late 1975, Gerry returned to
the Northwest and formed the band Sundown playing local pubs, dances, and
weddings. In late 1976, Gerry headed to California and got a gig with the resident Bill McClure
Party Band in Newport Beach. After a few months, a young female singer,
Kim McCormick joined the band and a romance was born. In 1977, Gerry
and Kim married and a year later they moved to Ireland.
In 1978, Gerry (with Kim) went
back to the ballroom circuit with
The Kim Newport Band. During the
next five and a half years, the band toured Ireland and
Gerry penned nearly a dozen songs which the band released on singles and
performed on RTE. He formed his own publishing company (Gala Music)
and record company (Sunset Records) as well. After being signed to
Hawk Records and two singles released (A Love Song and Stop Think),
the band would release the remainder of their singles on Gerry's Sunset
Records, as well as discs for The Duskeys, Pluto and
Donal McLynn, among others.
During this time, Gerry also took
to the local airwaves as a DJ with local pirate station, Radio
City. This was before local radio was legalised in Ireland. Throughout this
same period
Gerry also made appearances with several other bands including Stage 2,
The Fairways, and Pat Ely's Rocky Tops. In the early 80's he also
started recording local bands in Sligo including the first ever
recordings for both Jargon (which featured Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan) and
Those Nervous Animals.
In 1983, Gerry and Kim returned to
the States and lived in Southern California. In 1990,
they relocated to Atlanta, Georgia and Gerry built his own 16 track studio and started working with a
variety of clients, doing most of his work in voiceover and
commercial videos. In 1994 Gerry added
video production to his business.
In 2007, Gerry returned to
the Northwest and formed the band
Crossroads which played all around the Northwest until 2012 before
Gerry returned to the States to take up a teaching position. Just
before leaving Ireland, he was a part of the historic Smokey Mountain Ramblers 40th Anniversary Reunion Tour.
He currently lives back in Sligo, playing and recording
all across the Northwest.
|
