Luke Kelly: A Memoir

by Des Geraghty

Luke Kelly (1940-1984) was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin, most famous as a member of the band The Dubliners. Kelly was one of the best-known figures of the Irish folk music movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He emigrated to Britain in 1958. This book contains a personal memoir by musician and fellow Dubliner Des Geraghty."

Genres: Music, Ireland, Biography

156 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[James Renaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More so a memoir of Dublin than Luke but still enough of Luke to keep me happily reading away.

[Matthew O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books I have read in a while however it isn't really a memoir of Luke Kelly it is a history of Irish folk and a memoir of Des Geraghty with Luke Kelly given hefty coverage. It also doesn't go too much into Luke's Communist politics and all the snippets about Luke being a communist I had read before so that was a bit disappointing.

That being said it's good if you can get it for less than a tener.

[Sir Mullo]

What a rabbit hole. Thanks to Mike Glennons radio documentary on Raglan road:

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/1213/...

Mike a neighbour and I dare say a friend now made this read possible. Being a working class Dub myself I feel a kinship of sorts with Kelly so was naturally drawn to him.

Growing up in a house with two fine singers for parents I was immersed in Kellys songs but has taken me till now to pull back some of the other pages on this huge Dublin character.

Great read.

[David McGinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less a Luke Kelly memoir than a social history of Dublin and parts of England during the 60s which Kelly was one character in (the author another significant character, unexpectedly). No great insights into the man, disappointingly few anecdotes, and the photos aren’t even very good. Reads like a memoir about the author based on his memories rather than a well-researched biography of Luke. Should have just made it a book about the 60s in Dublin, with Luke making a few appearances.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting little book