Joe McCarthy

Who is Joe McCarthy?

Joe McCarthy is a well-known Irish musician who was for many years one of the best known faces of the showband group The Dixies.

McCarthy was born Joseph Terence McCarthy in Cork, Ireland on 6 August 1936. He was born into a well-known local family of stonemasons and lived in Copleys Street in Cork city centre

McCarthy's uncle "Buddy" was a well-known dance promoter and had at one time a dancehall on nearby Union Quay. As a youth Joe joined the Cork Butter Exchange Brass Band and learned to play the French Horn but later became best known as a drummer.

In 1954 Joe and two of his friends, Sean Lucey and Theo Cahill formed a dance band which they called The Dixielanders. This was later to be shortened to The Dixies and in the 1960s became one of the best known showbands in Ireland.

During the 1960s a number of other musicians joined the band and some left but the most significant was the arrival of vocalist Brendan O'Brien in the late 1960s. In 1968 the band had their greatest success when their version of Leapy Lees "Little Arrows" shot to No.1 in the Irish singles chart.

During the late 1970s the band broke up after lead singer Brendan O'Brien was electrocuted on stage and seriously injured due to a faulty microphone.