Ronnie Drew was a true Dubliner in every sense of the word. Born on 16th September 1934, in Dun Laoghaire, Drew was one of a family of six and first discovered his love of music through the radio.

“Radio was limited and better than it is today,” he told me when we met in Dublin a few years ago. “Today they play the music that is presented to them by huge recording companies. I used to listen to ‘Ballad Makers Saturday Nights’ and began to get interested. I remember hearing Dominic Behan singing ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ and identified with it.

“I heard folk music from all over the world– Greece, Italy and Spain so I bought a guitar off someone for two bob, went to Spain in 1955 and learned to play flamenco. Then I began to accompany myself on songs and when Val Brown took me to a fleadh ceoil I really got to know what Irish music was all about and became very much involved in it.

“Myself, Barney McKenna, Ciaran Burke and Luke Kelly teamed up and we’d go to O’Donoghue’s pub and sit there playing in a corner and eventually somebody asked us to play a few gigs.”

The Dubliners was born and went on to international success.

Ronnie first left the Dubliners in 1974, then rejoined and finally departed in 1994. This was a major transition for him and he went on to impress his loyal fans and critics alike with his album ‘Dirty Rotten Shame’.

Ronnie’s 1997 stage production of ‘Ronnie I Hardly Knew Ya’ which he co-wrote with former Stockton’s Wing member Mike Hanrahan, travelled to the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then to the USA, Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Israel.

In 2006 Ronnie underwent treatment for throat cancer and his wife Deirdre died after a short battle with cancer in June, 2007. In January, 2008, Bono, Christy Moore, Shane McGowan and a host of artists recorded ‘The Ballad of Ronnie Drew’ as a tribute.

Ronnie Drew died peacefully in St Vincent’s Private hospital on August 16, 2008. His gravelly voice and great wit will be greatly missed.

Above; A lighthearted moment between Ronnie and the fiddler and composer John Sheahan.