The life and times of Mayo band leader Stephen Garvey

PART 3

By Tom Gillespie

ONE of Ireland’s most celebrated musicians, and foremost band leader, Stephen Garvey, died in the USA in January 1962.

In the February 3, 1962, edition of The Connaught Telegraph a lengthy obituary was carried on the Castle Street, Castlebar, native.

The next year (1927), after The Mikado, he produced The Pirates of Penzance and Trial by Jury. As in the case of The Mikado, he had a full orchestra, including even an organ.

Again he toured the principal towns in the province and played to packed houses.

On one occasion he showed his flair for organisation. He was told half-an-hour before the troupe was to leave that a lorry that was to take some of them could not be got.

He issued his call and in minutes he was rejecting or accepting the offers of private cars that poured in.

On another night he was told, an hour before departure time, that a leading man could not travel to Ballinrobe. Stephen travelled and when he reached Ballinrobe began to don the absent player's costume.

The absent one was small where Stephen was big. He squeezed into the costume and went on and did the part while the members of the troupe, and perhaps the redoubtable Stephen, held their breath in case the costume would give.

When he came off stage he was congratulated by all. Then a lady from Westport came and said that she had never seen him on stage before. Stephen replied: “Mary (that was not her name) but for this costume held, you would have seen quite a lot more of me than you ever saw before.”

The year after that saw The Gondoliers. It was the same success story and the city of Galway was taken on the tour, with packed houses as a reward.

By this time the strain was telling on Stephen. He could not burn the candle at two ends, so he wisely decided to keep on his band work.

With electric amplification and a bigger band he kept getting more and more bookings. Eventually he invaded the holy of holies, Dublin, and got repeat bookings there. It seemed he had made it, as the American’s say, but, again, had he?

He was next appointed organist at the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar, a position he held until a few years before he retired because he could not devote sufficient time to that work.

His band played on and on, but he wanted to play in England.

By this time the band included a Hammond portable organ and Stephen got an offer of a tour of the principal UK cities. He accepted and he and his boys set out, organ and all. But the men at the customs barrier at Holyhead said they would not let in the organ without duty. “Nothing doing,” said Stephen, and as the men moved towards the organ he sat on it.

“If you take it you will have to take me,” he said. One look at Stephen, who had developed from a slim boy to a heavy ‘corporationed’ maestro, decided the men.

The tour was an unqualified success. Many emigrants from Ireland, reliving the past, listened to Stephen playing his famous selections of old waltzes. He came home triumphant. He had ‘arrived’, or had he?

There was only one place more he wanted to go. That was America. He went, he saw, he conquered.

He played his way into the hearts of the Americans just as he did into the hearts of the Irish here. He made several successful appearances on television and got offers from many studios. But he was not yet ready to wait away from Ireland.

He came back and since then he played even better than before.

But at the back of his mind there was a little doubt. It was that 40 years at the keyboards was enough.

To the ‘Waltz King’, ‘Jazz King’, ‘Ceili King’ and ‘Swing King’, for nearly half-a-century was an achievement.

Stephen decided to retire. What is more, he decided that he would spend some years of his retirement in America.

Just a few months before this he told some of his friends of his plans. At first they did not believe him - it was only one more of Stephen’s jokes. But he was serious.

He left for the ‘Land of the Almighty Dollar’, not that he needed to work as he was financially independent.

Yet he intended to 'keep his hand in’, with television and radio appearances, and some concert work, with just a little dance work thrown in.

But just a little dance work may not be enough for Stephen. Perhaps, like here, he will soon be in a position that he will find himself snowed under with offers. That could happen, especially with all the Irish in America who knew him from the Old Country.

They know ‘Stephen’, they will want ‘Stephen’. Will he give them ‘Stephen’?

The future’s not ours to see, but if one guess is as good as another, I would expect that in two years time the Irish over there will be asking: “Who played last night? Was it Stephen?, and the answer will be ‘Yes’.

Many years later a Stephen Garvey Memorial Committee was set up to have his remains reinterred in Castlebar. Due to the efforts of this committee his final homecoming was on August 18, 1996, and his remains were finally laid to rest in Co. Mayo.

The obituary for The Connaught Telegraph was written by journalist P.W. Leamy, a native of Main Street, Castlebar, and himself a noted musician and band leader. P.W died on December 6, 1972, and is buried in Castlebar graveyard.

Concluded.

Links to Parts 1 and 2 here.