Popular tenor John MacNally had strong connections to Sligo
WELL KNOWN Irish tenor John MacNally, who passed away recently in Australia, had strong Sligo connections.
At one time, in the late 1960s and 1970s, John was one of the best known performers in Ireland, appearing regularly on RTE, in the Concert Hall in Dublin and around the country.
But he also found fame further afield, performing in Carnegie Hall in New York and he was the first Irish tenor to perform at the top venues in Las Vegas, striking up friendships with the likes of Jack Benny, Elvis, Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Liberace and Olivia Newton John.
Later he was invited to Australia to perform and hosted the famous ‘Tonight Show’ there. He and his family resided in Sydney from the mid-70s until his demise on May 18. He was invited to sing at a concert to honour President Patrick Hillery, when he was the first Irish president to visit Australia. And in 1968, when Pope John Paul II visited Australia, John McNally’s album of hymns was chosen for a Mass.
John grew up in Terenure, Dublin, one of six children of the late Comdt Patrick and Elizabeth MacNally.
His Sligo connection was that his maternal grandmother was Mary Conboy from Bunnifedia, Dromard. He was related to the Kearins and Clarke families in that area, the Duffys in Donegal and the Palmers in Dublin.
He loved listening to the great tenor Count John McCormack and, although he was christened Brendan, as a tribute to McCormack he adopted the name John. He was the international vice president of the John McCormack Society, of which his brother Donal is the president.
John was awarded McCormack’s gold jewellery box by the McCormack family for his promotion of the memory of the great singer. Before going abroad, John MacNally shot to fame in Ireland with his recording of the song ‘Mary in the Morning’.
His last performances in Ireland were in June 2014 when the late Martina Kearins organised for John to sing in Knock and the following day in the Royal Theatre Castlebar. Among the other performers at that concert was another cousin Caoimhe Kearins, who was an accomplished fiddle player and trad singer, soprano Louise Irvine and the Sligo barbershop quartet Close ’n Time.
After Castlebar, Genevieve Kearins Creagh, Martina Kearin’s sister, organised concerts in the Donal McCann Theatre in Terenure College, Dublin.
Genevieve had her sons Crónán and Tiarnán, who were past pupils of Terenure College, to assist her. Also on the bill for that concert was famous saxophone and clarinet player Big Jim Farrelly, who was a great friend of both John McNally and Genevieve’s husband Michael Creagh, who was in the music business, too.
John was a keen golfer and played many a round with his friends Christy O’Connor and comedian Hal Roche. To mark his passing his local golf club in Sydney had their flags at half mast.
Predeceased by his brothers Terence, Patrick and Thomas, he is survived by his wife Anne, daughter Elizabeth, son Austin, sister Sr Shelia OP, brother Donal, and is also sadly missed by his relations in Sligo and beyond.