Patsy Watchorn (born 16 October 1944) is an Irish folk singer. He is notable for being a member of the Dublin City Ramblers and later

The Dubliners The Dubliners () were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in pers ...

Music career

Watchorn first came to prominence around 1969 as the lead singer of The Quare Fellas, a Dublin-based ballad group, in 1969. They evolved into the Dublin City Ramblers in the early 1970s and with Patsy as their lead singer they had hits with songs such as " The Rare Ould Times" and " The Ferryman", both of which were written by Pete St. John.Rose of Mooncoin, Dublin City Ramblers
''Shazam.com'' Patsy also wrote and sang the Irish Football Team anthem for their

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

campaign in Germany and again for the World Cup in 1990 in Italy "We are the Boys in Green" (Home & Away Album) with The Dublin City Ramblers. The lyrics changed slightly in both releases in 1988 and 1990. In 1995, Watchorn left the Dublin City Ramblers and made a number of solo albums. He joined

in 2005, taking

Paddy Reilly Patrick Reilly (born 18 October 1939) is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. Born in Rathcoole, County Dublin, he is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers and is best known for his renditions of " The Fields of Athenry", " Rose of Allendale" ...

's place. He has appeared on their '' Tour Sampler'' EP in 2005, as well as the double album '' Live at Vicar Street'' (2006). Patsy plays the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A Goatskin (material), goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or ot ...

and

spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos' ...

. He cites

Luke Kelly Luke Kelly (17 November 1940 – 30 January 1984) was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly moved to England in his late teens and by his early 20s had become ...

, former lead singer with

as his favourite singer. Patsy sang with the Dubliners and was well received throughout Ireland, the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA. When The Dubliners announced their retirement in 2012 after finishing their 50 Years Anniversary Tour, Patsy Watchorn decided to keep on touring with former band members

Seán Cannon Seán Cannon (born 29 November 1940) is an Irish musician. Since 1982 he has been a guitarist for The Dubliners and their follow-up-band The Dublin Legends. Early life Seán Cannon was born in Galway, Ireland. He travelled around Europe at an e ...

and

Eamonn Campbell Eamonn Campbell (29 November 1946 – 18 October 2017) was an Irish musician who was a member of The Dubliners from 1987 until his death. He was also in the Dubliners when they recorded their 25th anniversary show on '' The Late Late Show'' hos ...

and Banjo player Gerry O'Connor under the name of "The Dublin Legends". On 28 April 2014 Patsy Watchorn posted a message on his website, stating that he "decided to take a break from the music business for a while" and will not be touring the rest of 2014 with "The Dublin Legends". He later admitted this was due to ill health and that doctors advised touring would do further damage to his health. Watchorn's distinctive and passionate vocals have made him a huge rock on the Irish folk scene. In his solo projects in the mid and late 1990s after departing from his band The Dublin City Ramblers, he had session men who used to play alongside him and he used the stage name "Patsy Watchorn, agus a Cháirde" (which means "and his Friends" in Irish).

Discography

* ''Pub with No Beer'' (1996) * ''Sonia's Song'' (1996) * ''The Craic and Porter Too'' (1998) * ''Raised on Songs and Stories'' (2000) * ''The Rare Old Times: The Very Best of Patsy Watchorn'' (2002) * ''Hearts on Fire'' (2003) * ''Irish Rebel Heroes'' (2004) * ''Now'' (2011)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watchorn, Patsy 1944 births Irish male folk singers Living people Musicians from Dublin (city) The Dubliners members Irish male banjoists 20th-century Irish male musicians 20th-century Irish banjoists 20th-century Irish folk musicians 21st-century Irish male musicians 21st-century Irish banjoists 21st-century Irish folk musicians 1960s in Irish music 1970s in Irish music 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music