Liam Clancy

The youngest and the last surviving of the Clancy Brothers, Liam Clancy played a major role in the success of the Irish folk singing group that he shared with his brothers. "I never heard a singer as good as (Liam)," said Bob Dylan during a late-'90s interview. "He was just the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life. Still is, probably. I can't think of anyone who is a better ballad singer." Clancy was drawn to creative endeavors at a young age. Painting and writing poetry and short stories since childhood, he produced, directed, designed scenery, and acted in several local theatrical productions as a teen. Although his mother was considered an important source for Irish folk songs, it wasn't until an American folk song collector visited the Clancy home in 1955 that he began to sing. "The first thing I ever sang," he later recalled, "was the recording that Diane Hamilton made -- "The Lark in the Morning." Clancy's involvement with Hamilton had a profound effect on his future. Accompanying her to Keady, County Armagh, he met folksinger Sarah Makem and her son, Tommy Makem; Tommy became his life-long friend and musical collaborator. Tommy, Clancy emigrated to the United States in 1956 hoping to find jobs as stage and television actors. They soon found that they earned more money by singing Irish folk songs at Greenwich Village nightspot, the Fifth Peg (later called Gerde's Folk City), with Clancy's older brother, Paddy, who had settled in New York a couple of months before their arrival. Releasing their debut album, Irish Songs of Rebellion, on Paddy Clancy's label Tradition in 1956, the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem ushered in a new era of Irish folk music. With the encouragement and support of heiress Diane Guggenheim, they joined with beat poets, artists, and other...