When the Pogues� Shane MacGowan sings your praises, you know you�re influential.
Ronnie Drew surely was.
The leader of the Irish folk group the Dubliners died at age 73 Saturday after a lengthy bout with cancer.
Famed for a voice described as sounding like coal being crushed under a door, Drew�s booming vocals and bushy beard - along with those of his associate Dubliners isthmus mates - became the image well-nigh associated with the revitalization of Irish folk in the �60s and �70s. The answer to the Clancy Brothers� bouncy melodies and neat Aran fisherman sweaters, the Dubliners grew out of Guinness-soaked backroom sessions at O�Donoghue�s Pub in their namesake city.
Throughout his prolonged career Drew accompanied himself on Spanish guitar, spell sharing vocal duties in the Dubliners� classic lineup with the late Luke Kelly. Kelly provided the balladeer�s touch, while Drew�s voice set the groundwork for the group�s livelier selections.
With his gruff, pebbly tone, he delivered definitive versions of such Irish folk tunes as �Finnegan�s Wake,� �McAlpine�s Fusiliers� and �Seven Drunken Nights.�
Drew was beginning to suffer from health issues when his wife of 40 geezerhood, Deirdre, died last June. After organism diagnosed with throat genus Cancer, his health steadily declined.
An all-star gathering of Irish musicians, including surviving members of the Dubliners, members of U2, Sinead O�Connor,Oscar winner Glen Hansard, Bob Geldof, Christy Moore, MacGowan and a handful of others wrote and recorded �The Ballad of Ronnie Drew� in January. The song, which paid tribute to Drew�s influence on Irish music and culture, topped the Irish singles charts and proceeds benefitted the Irish Cancer Society.
�Build you a statue on St. Stephen�s Green, no fairer monument ere to be seen,� went the lyrics, �the statue of Ronnie Drew retention the hand of a girl with her hair in a black velvet band.�
The song borrowed a chorus from Drew�s 1978 recording �Easy and Slow,� this time interpreted by Hansard and MacGowan.
Drew lately recorded with Boston punk-rockers the Dropkick Murphys, loaning his see and snarling baritone to �Flannigan�s Ball� from the band�s �The Meanest of Times� CD.
The Dubliners originally started out as the Ronnie Drew Group in 1962 with Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna and Ciaran Bourke. John Sheahan and Bobby Lynch joined a short time later and, at Drew�s urging, the group changed its discover to the Dubliners. He was a member of the Dubliners from 1962 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1995.
Drew - labeled �The King of Ireland� by Bono and posthumously referred to as �the last of the Irish rovers� - was laid to rest side by side to his late wife after a two-day wake in County Wicklow.
The Ballad of Ronnie Drew
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