Tommy Makem, 74, dies; singer took Irish music to the masses

Tommy Makem, a songwriter, balladeer and folk singer who with the Clancy Brothers helped introduce a raucous, revolutionary take on time-honored Irish folk music, first in the United States and then in Ireland, died Wednesday in Dover, New Hampshire. He was 74.

The cause of death was complications of lung cancer, his son Conor said.

Makem's music emerged in the 1960s, and its sound and success particularly buoyed Irish-Americans who recalled the sting of prejudice toward immigrant ancestors. Makem, a baritone who played the banjo and tin whistle, was hailed as the godfather of Irish music.

In 1961 the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the name under which they performed, signed a $100,000 recording contract, a big deal at the time. Makem and Joan Baez were named the most promising newcomers at the Newport Folk Festival that year.

On March 12, 1961, the group, whose members were born in Ireland and moved to the United States, performed for 14 minutes for a television audience of 80 million on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

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The next year an Irish radio announcer visiting the United States took some of their albums back to Ireland and played them on his show. By 1964 a third of the albums sold in Ireland were by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

In 1963 they performed at the White House at the request of President John F. Kennedy, who was of Irish descent. Makem had rewritten an old song, "We Want No Irish Here." It was taken from the time in America when there were signs saying, "No Irish Need Apply."