Editing Paddy Clancy

{{short description|Irish singer (1922–1998)}}
{{for multi|the Irish politician|Patrick Clancy (Irish politician)|the Australian union leader|Pat Clancy (trade unionist)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name           = Patrick "Paddy" Clancy
|image          = Paddy_Clancy_of_The_Clancy_Brothers_from_The_Rising_of_the_Moon_LP_(1956).jpg
|caption        = Clancy in 1956
|background     = solo_singer
|birth_date     = {{birth date|1922|03|07|df=y}}
|death_date     = {{death date and age|1998|11|11|1922|03|07|df=y}}
|death_place    =  Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland
|origin         = [[Carrick-on-Suir]], [[County Tipperary]], Ireland
|instrument     = [[Vocals]], [[harmonica]]
|genre          = [[Folk music|Folk]], [[Traditional Irish music|traditional Irish]]
|occupation     = Singer, music producer, actor
|years_active   = 1951–1998
|past_member_of = [[The Clancy Brothers]]
}}

'''Patrick Michael Clancy''' (7 March 1922 – 11 November 1998), usually called '''Paddy Clancy''' or '''Pat Clancy''', was an Irish folk singer best known as a member of [[the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem]]. In addition to singing and storytelling, Clancy played the [[harmonica]] with the group, which is widely credited with popularizing [[Folk music of Ireland|Irish traditional music]] in the [[United States]] and revitalizing it in [[Ireland]].<ref name="Folk Hibernia">{{cite AV media
 | title = Folk Hibernia
 | medium = television
 | publisher = BBC 4
 | date = 2006
 |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39D0J8SzQMA}}</ref><ref name="Paddy Clancy Call">{{Citation
 | last = McCourt
 | first = Frank
 | author-link = Frank McCourt
 | editor-last = Harty
 | editor-first = Patricia
 | title = The Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th Century
 | publisher = Oak Tree Press
 | year = 2001
 | chapter = The Paddy Clancy Call
 | pages = 110–112
 | isbn = 1860762069}}</ref><ref name="Hamill Paddy Clancy">{{cite news
 | last = Hamill
 | first = Dennis
 | title = 'Tis a Fine Way to Honor Paddy Clancy
 | newspaper = New York Daily News
 | pages = City Beat (section)
 | date = 7 November 1999
 | url = http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/boroughs/tis-fine-honor-paddy-clancy-article-1.848112}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news| location=New York | work=Daily News | title= Last Clancy brother Liam is buried, but clan leaves impression on Irish music| first=Denis | last=Hamill | date=22 December 2009 | url=http://videoarchive.stthom.edu/index.php?option=com_jmovies&Itemid=&task=detail&id=154}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Madigan|first=Charles M.|title=Irish Folk Singer Patrick Clancy|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/11/20/irish-folk-singer-patrick-clancy/|access-date=19 April 2014|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=20 November 1998}}</ref> He also started and ran the folk music label [[Tradition Records]], which recorded many of the key figures of the [[American folk music revival]].<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Clancy
 | first = Liam
 | author-link = Liam Clancy
 | title = The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour
 | publisher = Doubleday
 | date = 2002
 | location = New York
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/143 143]
 | isbn = 0-385-50204-4
 | url = https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/143
 }}
</ref>

==Early years==

Clancy was one of eleven children and the eldest of four boys born to Johanna McGrath and Bob Clancy in [[Carrick-on-Suir]], [[County Tipperary]]. During [[World War II]] he served as a flight engineer in the [[Royal Air Force]] in India; he also reportedly had been a member of the [[Irish Republican Army]].<ref>[http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/pc_01.htm The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Concert Program - circa 1966.]</ref><ref>{{citation | url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/trad_1034_so_early.htm | last=Hamilton | first=Diane | author-link = Diane Hamilton | title = So Early in the Morning (liner notes)| publisher = Tradition Records. | date = 1960}}</ref> After his demobilization, Clancy worked as a baker in London. In 1947 he emigrated to [[Toronto]], Canada with his brother [[Tom Clancy (singer)|Tom Clancy]]. The following year, the two brothers moved to [[Cleveland, Ohio]] to stay with relatives. Later, they attempted to move to [[California]], but their car broke down and they relocated to the New York City area instead.<ref name="Oh that Clancy">{{cite news
 | last = Roth
 | first = Arthur
 | title = Oh ''that'' Clancy!
 | newspaper = The Critic
 | pages = 63–68
 | date = Jan–Feb 1972
}}</ref>

==Greenwich Village and Tradition Records==
After moving to [[Greenwich Village]] in 1951, both Paddy and Tom Clancy devoted themselves primarily to careers in the theater. In addition to appearing in various [[Off-Broadway]] productions and television shows, they produced and starred in plays at the [[Cherry Lane Theatre]] in Greenwich Village and at a playhouse in [[Martha's Vineyard]]. Their productions included an 18-week run of [[Seán O'Casey]]'s ''[[The Plough and the Stars]]''.<ref name="Oh that Clancy"/>

After losing money on some unsuccessful plays, the brothers began singing concerts of folk songs after their evening acting jobs were over. They soon dubbed these concerts "Midnight Specials" and the "Swapping Song Fair." Paddy and Tom were often joined by other prominent folk singers of the day, including [[Pete Seeger]], [[Woody Guthrie]], and [[Jean Ritchie]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Ronald D.|title=Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940-1970|url=https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe|url-access=registration|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|date=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe/page/105 105–06]|isbn=1558493484}}</ref>

In 1956 their younger brother [[Liam Clancy]] immigrated to New York, where he teamed up with [[Tommy Makem]], whom he had met while collecting folk songs in Ireland. The two began singing together at [[Gerde's Folk City]], a club in Greenwich Village. Paddy and Tom Clancy sang with them on occasion, usually in informal folk 'sing-songs' in the Village. Around the same time, Paddy founded [[Tradition Records]] with folk-song collector and heiress [[Diane Hamilton]], and in 1956 the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem released their first album, ''[[The Rising of the Moon (album)|The Rising of the Moon]]'', with only Paddy's harmonica as musical accompaniment.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Clancy
 | first = Liam
 | author-link = Liam Clancy
 | title = The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour
 | publisher = Doubleday
 | date = 2002
 | location = New York
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/143 143–145]
 | isbn = 0-385-50204-4
 | url = https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/143
 }}
</ref>

However, the Clancys and Makem did not become a permanent singing group until 1959. In the meanwhile, Paddy Clancy signed and recorded established folk artists for Tradition Records, including [[Alan Lomax]], [[Ewan MacColl]], [[Paul Clayton (folksinger)|Paul Clayton]], [[Ed McCurdy]], [[Oscar Brand]], and Jean Ritchie. Tradition also produced [[Odetta]]'s first solo LP, ''[[Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues]]'', which [[Bob Dylan]] (a friend of the Clancys) later cited as his inspiration to become a folk singer.<ref>[http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/play78.htm Bob Dylan, Playboy interview, 1978.]</ref> [[Carolyn Hester]]'s self-titled album with Tradition led to her first public recognition and her signing with Columbia Records.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Ronald D.|title=ainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940-1970|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|date=2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe/page/189 189]|isbn=1558493484|url=https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe/page/189}}</ref>

In addition to planning what the label would record, Clancy edited many of the ensuing albums himself. While still president of Tradition Records, he went as a cameraman on an expedition to Venezuela in search of [[alluvium|alluvial]] diamonds, ostensibly as part of a documentary crew.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clancy|first=Liam|author-link=Liam Clancy|title=The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour|publisher=Doubleday|date=2002|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/202 202–03]|isbn=0-385-50204-4|url=https://archive.org/details/mountainofwomen00liam/page/202}}</ref>

==Clancy Brothers==
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2017}}
In the late 1950s, Clancy with his brothers and Makem began to take singing more seriously as a permanent career, and soon they recorded their second album, ''[[Come Fill Your Glass with Us]]''. This album proved to be more successful than their debut album, and they began receiving job offers as singers at important nightclubs, including the [[Gate of Horn]] in Chicago and the Blue Angel in New York City. The group garnered nationwide fame in the United States after an appearance on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', which led to a contract with [[Columbia Records]] in 1961.

Over the course of the 1960s, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem recorded approximately two albums a year for Columbia. By 1964, ''[[Billboard Magazine]]'' reported that the group was outselling [[Elvis Presley]] in Ireland.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Stewart|first1=Ken|title=Eire: Clancys, Makem Topping Presley|magazine=Billboard|date=7 September 1963|volume=75|issue=36|page=37}}</ref> Two of their albums, ''[[In Person at Carnegie Hall]]'' and ''[[The First Hurrah!]]'', were also hits in the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Our Musical Score: Columbia Records 1964 LP Chart Performance|magazine=Billboard|date=26 December 1964|volume=76|issue=52|pages=106–07}}</ref>

Paddy Clancy considered ''In Person at Carnegie Hall'' to be their best record.<ref name=Story>{{cite AV media|people=Derek Bailey (director)|title=The Story of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem|medium=DVD|publisher=Shanachie|accessdate=27 May 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWeXxLQ4ZhQ}}</ref>

The group performed together on stage, recordings, and television to great acclaim in the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia until Tommy Makem left to pursue a solo career in 1969. They continued performing first with [[Bobby Clancy]] and then with [[Louis Killen]] until Liam left in 1976 also to pursue a solo career.  In 1977 after a short hiatus, the group reformed with Paddy, Tom, and Bobby Clancy and their nephew [[Robbie O'Connell]]. Liam returned in 1990 after the death of Tom Clancy.

In a 2008 documentary, ''The Yellow Bittern'', Liam Clancy recalled Paddy as the "[[alpha male]]" of the group, who "quietly laid down the law" that his younger brothers and Makem followed "without questioning his authority."<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Alan Gilsenan (director)|title=The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy|medium=Documentary/DVD|publisher=RTÉ|date=2009}}</ref> On another occasion, Liam noted about Paddy: "Being the eldest brother he was always the leader of the pack. His word was kind of gospel."<ref name=Moloney>[[Mick Moloney|Moloney, Mick]] (1999, Winter). "Last Chorus: Paddy Clancy 1922-1998", ''Sing Out! the Folk Song Magazine'', vol. 43, is. 3, pp. 29-30.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

Paddy often acted as the spokesman for the Clancys, and he frequently included funny stories and jokes in his concerts. His signature song was the classic Irish drinking song, "A Jug of Punch." He was also well known for his renditions of "[[The Rare Old Mountain Dew|Mountain Dew]]," "[[Rosin the Bow]]," "[[Foggy Dew (Irish ballad)|The Foggy Dew]]," the humorous songs, "[[Eggs and Marrowbone|The Old Woman from Wexford]]" and "Mr. Moses Ri-Tooral-I-Ay," the Scottish song, "Johnny Lad", and several others.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

==Return to Ireland and death==
After two decades in North America, in 1968 Clancy returned to live in Carrick-on-Suir, where he had bought a dairy farm and bred exotic cattle. When not on tour or working on his farm, he spent much of his time fishing, reading, and doing crossword puzzles.<ref>{{cite web|title=Joan Clancy Gallery: Orla Clancy|first=Orla|last=Clancy|url=http://www.joanclancygallery.com/orla_clancy.shtml}}</ref>

In the late 1990s, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was successfully removed, but he was also stricken with terminal [[lung cancer]] around the same time. He continued performing until his failing health prevented him from doing so any longer.<ref name=Moloney/>

Patrick Clancy died at home of lung cancer on 11 November 1998 at the age of 76. He was buried, wearing his trademark white cap, in the tiny village of Faugheen, near Carrick-on-Suir. He was survived by his widow, Mary Clancy (née Flannery), and their four children, Rory, Orla, Maura, and Conor. He was also survived by a daughter from his first marriage, Leish Clancy, and four siblings, Liam, Bobby, Peg, and Joan.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pareles|first=Jon|title=Patrick Clancy, 76, Founding Member of the Clancy Brothers|newspaper=The New York Times|page=13|date=19 November 1998|accessdate=27 May 2017|url=http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/pc_02.htm}}</ref>

After his death, folklorist and broadcaster [[Ciarán Mac Mathúna]] identified him as the "strong man" of the Clancy Brothers,<ref>{{cite news|title=Folk legend Paddy Clancy dead at 76|url=http://irishecho.com/2011/02/folk-legend-paddy-clancy-dead-at-76-2|accessdate=19 April 2014|newspaper=Irish Echo|date=November 1998}}</ref> while Irish folk musician [[Mick Moloney]] asserted that he had been "a powerful figure in a group of strong willed men...Paddy's leadership quality always shone out when the Clancys performed." Moloney also noted what he saw as Clancy's legacy: "Irish music would not enjoy the success it has today if he had not made Irish music his career and paved the way for all of us."<ref name=Moloney />

== Solo singing discography/Guest appearances ==

*1959 – ''Folk Festival at Newport, Volume 1'' – Vanguard LP
*1961 – ''Folk Music of the Newport Folk Festival: 1959-1960, Volume 1'' – Folkways LP/CD
*1984 – ''Mick Moloney: Uncommon Bonds'' – Green Linnet LP/CD
*Other recordings listed under [[The Clancy Brothers]]

==Albums edited==

===Tradition Records===

* 1956 – [[Siobhán McKenna]], [[John Neville (actor)|John Neville]], [[Tom Clancy (singer)|Tom Clancy]]: ''The Countess Cathleen''
* 1956 – [[Ed McCurdy]]: ''A Ballad Singer's Choice''
* 1956 – Norman Notley & David Brynley: ''Elizabethan Songs''
* 1957 – [[Glenn Yarbrough]]: ''Come and Sit by My Side''
* 1957 – [[John Jacob Niles]]: ''I Wonder as I Wander — Love Songs and Carols''
* 1957 – [[Mary O'Hara]]: ''Songs of Ireland''
* 1957 – [[Odetta]]: ''[[At the Gate of Horn]]''
* 1957 – [[A. L. Lloyd]] and [[Ewan MacColl]]: ''Blow Boys Blow – Songs of the Sea''
* 1960 – Peg & [[Bobby Clancy]] and the Clancy Grandchildren: ''So Early in the Morning''
* 1960 – [[John Jacob Niles]]: ''An Evening with John Jacob-Niles''
* 1960 – Theodore Alevizos: ''Songs of Greece''
* 1961 – [[The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem]]: ''[[The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (album)|The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem]]''
* 1961 – [[Carolyn Hester]]: ''Carolyn Hester''
* 1961 – [[Tommy Makem]]: ''Songs of Tommy Makem''
* 1961 – Peg & [[Bobby Clancy]]: ''Songs from Ireland''<ref>[http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/pc_d01.htm Paddy Clancy: Tradition Records.]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://elvispelvis.com/patrickclancy.htm] Obituaries of Patrick Clancy from ''[[New York Times]]'', ''[[Irish Times]]'' and the ''[[Associated Press]]''.
*[http://videoarchive.stthom.edu/index.php?option=com_jmovies&Itemid=&task=detail&id=154] Mary Clancy [Paddy Clancy's wife] (2006). "My Life with the Clancy Brothers" (video). University of St. Thomas. Irish Lecture Series.

{{The Clancy Brothers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Patrick}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish male singers]]
[[Category:Clancy family|Paddy]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish folk singers]]
[[Category:Irish harmonica players]]
[[Category:Musicians from County Tipperary]]
[[Category:People from Carrick-on-Suir]]
[[Category:Tradition Records]]
[[Category:Tradition Records artists]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:The Clancy Brothers members]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Tipperary]]
[[Category:1950s in Irish music]]
[[Category:1960s in Irish music]]
[[Category:1970s in Irish music]]
[[Category:1980s in Irish music]]
[[Category:1990s in Irish music]]