Things looking up for popular musician

May 1978

Wexford singer/songwriter, Billy Roche, is about to set out on a musical career which it is hoped will end with him becoming an international recording artist.

Under new management and with a talented band behind him, he has just recorded a demonstration tape and hopes are now high that his big break has at last come.

For the past ten years, Billy has been one of the most popular musicians in Wexford and many people are predicting a great future for this talented singer who writes much of his own material.

It now appears that those predictions are about to become reality. Billy’s new manager, Guy Robinson, a former Managing Director of EMI Records, says of his venture with The Billy Roche Band that it is ‘probably the most exciting he has ever been associated with’ and of Billy, that he is the ‘most talented find of his career, both in terms of songwriting and as an artiste’.

And Mr Robinson should know what talent is all about. He is responsible for discovering and developing Jamie Stone and has also worked with The Swarbriggs on a succession of their No. 1 hits, including national and Eurovision successes.

He was also Managing Director of EMI in Sweden for four years and while there he recorded Anifred and Benny of Abba before they formed their group.

Wexford is the venue for the first gig of the new Billy Roche band. They play in White’s Hotel on Friday May 29.

Guy Robinson has also secured a residency for the band in Dublin. They will play in the Magnet Rooms, Pearse Street, every Thursday night from the following week. He hopes to secure another residency on the northside in the near future, as well as one in Wexford.

The band consists of Billy Roche, Alan Maguire (drums), Johnny Byrne (lead guitar), Ml. Odlum (bass and keyboards) and Des Gaffney (bass guitar).

The demonstration tape just recorded contains eight original songs, and Billy also has twenty or thirty other originals. Yet his does not confined himself to all his own work on stage, as he also sings his version of other writers’ songs.