The Miami Showband

Established in Eire in 1961, the Miami originally featured Jimmy Harte on vocals alongside Murty Quinn on trombone, Clem Quinn on lead guitar, Martin Phelan on saxophone, Tommy O’Rourke on trumpet, Denis Murray on bass guitar and Tony Bogan on drums. Harte departed for America after the group’s first year of touring and was succeeded by Dickie Rock, at which point the band began its climb up the Irish pop charts through a succession of number 1 singles driven by Rock’s velvet tenor. Tracks including ‘There’s Always Me’, ‘From The Candy Store On The Corner’ and ‘Every Step Of The Way’ became Rock classics throughout Eire. Beyond Rock’s own vocals, several other Miami members also recorded as lead singers: Clem Quinn released ‘Buck’s Polka’ in the wake of the Royal Showband’s ‘hucklebuck’ craze and placed the single inside Eire’s Top 10, while Murty Quinn followed with a comparable chart success on ‘One Kiss For Old Time’s Sake’ early the next year.

A financial dispute with Rock led Phelan, O’Rourke and the Quinn brothers to leave and establish the splinter group Sands in 1967. The reconstituted Miami continued alongside Rock until 1972, when he chose to pursue a solo career. Fran O’Toole then took the spotlight as principal vocalist, and the band maintained occasional chart presence through the 1970s with releases such as ‘Clap Hands Stamp Your Feet’. In the early hours of 31 July 1975, while returning from a performance in Banbridge, the musicians were stopped by Ulster Volunteer Force members who placed a bomb inside their van; the device detonated prematurely, and the captives attempted to escape only to be shot in the back. Fran O’Toole, Des Lee (Desmond McAlea) and Tony Geraghty were killed, while Stephen Travers sustained serious injuries. These murders inflicted lasting harm on the northern Irish showband circuit, effectively ending an era defined by musical innocence and non-sectarianism.