Athlone celebration to mark 50 years of Foster and Allen

by David Flynn

This month Athlone will be the venue for a celebration of 50 years of hits for the international duo Foster and Allen.

The midland musicians will be appearing in the '50 Years of Musical Hits' tour in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel this month, on Saturday, January 18.

However, the pair go back even longer in Athlone than their official birth date.

“We actually go back longer than 50, because our first night playing together was in 1967, at the Hodson Bay Hotel, with the Marylanders, who were made up of Paddy Moran, Johnny Moran, Dick Brown, Nando Farrelly and Jimmy Mullally,” said Mick Foster, while talking to the Westmeath Independent recently.

It’d be hard to exaggerate the success and worldwide recognition the two Westmeath men have achieved over the past 50 or more years.

Tony Allen comes from Mount Temple, Moate, and Mick, who was born in Kildare, has lived in Mullingar from childhood, and both have been involved in music since before they knew anything else.

Tony and his brother Tom (TR Dallas) joined with Mick Foster and several other local musicians including showband star, Doc Carroll, to star in ‘The Night Runners’.

In 1975, Mick and Tony were half of a four piece band called Liberation, alongside several other musicians at different times, including Tom McHale, Sean McCormack and Gerry Reynolds.

Mick reveals that he first got the idea of an Irish music duo from seeing Scottish musicians, the Alexander Brothers on Gay Byrne’s Late Late Show in 1968.

“To get a piano player that sang was tough and I knew Tony could be part of the duo, but it took me seven years to convince him it was a good idea,” said Mick laughing. “It’s a long time to be beating a stone.”

Foster and Allen are famously known in music circles to have never had an argument!

“We never had a row, because we thought things the very same way and every ten shillings we got, half was his and half was mine,” said Mick.

“Once we decided we were going to go with the band, we did it, and both look at everything musically and business-like the same way, so what was the point of an argument, even about politics or the weather,” said Tony, sitting down across from Mick laughing.

Paddy McCaul of the Shamrock Lodge Hotel has known Foster and Allen since long before they were internationally famous.

“I’ve always been a big fan of the Irish music scene and I got know Tony over 50 years ago, when I was working in the Prince of Wales hotel, when he was with the Nightrunners,” said Paddy.

“We grew up watching Top of the Pops on BBC, and then to see the elevation of Foster and Allen, who were our own, on the programme, was great. It was the Holy Grail for us that followed the music scene and it was like being at a Wembley Cup Final.”

Foster and Allen appeared on the music tv show in March 1982, singing their hit song, Bunch of Thyme. They were on the show alongside the Dublin group, The Boomtown Rats with lead singer, Bob Geldof, Adam and the Ants, the Goombay Dance Band and The Stranglers. Bunch of Thyme was a Top 20 hit in Britain, peaking at No. 18.

“Top of the Pops was a huge tv music show, and people who liked music watched it, like they did with the Monkees tv show,” said Tony.

“I never saw Top of the Pops until I was on it, because whenever I heard pop music on the radio, I’d turn it off,” said Mick, laughing.

“When they appeared on Top of the Pops, they became recognised internationally and the rest of the world began to enjoy their music, like we in Ireland had done for years beforehand,” said Paddy McCaul. “I used to follow them in local venues, and it was lovely to see them in the Gaiety in Dublin or the Dome in Tralee.”

The first time that Foster and Allen appeared on television was in Athlone. It was 1976, and they were broadcast from St Aloysius College for RTÉ’s Trom agus Eadrom, presented by Liam O’Murchu.

“In Ireland, in those days, everyone tuned into RTÉ television and radio, and absolutely everybody heard or saw you,” said Mick.

Throughout the years, they were featured on BBC television’s Russell Harty Show and Pebble Mill at One as well as being regularly played on BBC Radio 2 by Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, and the legendary disc jockey, Steve Wright.

They were also interviewed on Gloria Hunniford’s television and radio show and they sang and recorded the old Bing Crosby/Grace Kelly song, True Love with the Portadown-born star.

Bunch of Thyme is considered their most recognisable theme song, although the group has recorded around 900 songs, and many have been hits throughout the world. They were No. 1 for five weeks in Australia with Maggie and they still get regular airplays on radio stations with Old Flames, The Green Willow, Gold and Silver Days, Mrs Brown’s Boys, We’ll Owe it All To You and We’ll Meet Again.

Foster and Allen recorded the song Burnin' Bridges with Nathan Carter, and two other hits, Galway Girl and One Little Christmas Tree with Shayne Ward. Their latest single, The Good Old Days, sung with Derek Ryan, was released recently and the video to accompany the song was recorded at Kilbeggan Distillery.

“There’s one thing that has never changed and has stood the test of time, and that’s the music!” said Paddy McCaul.

“Whenever we have Foster and Allen in the hotel, people leave the show and wonder when they are coming back. Their music is timeless. They don’t just put on a show. They create an event. The nostalgia means a lot to people. It continues on in the bar afterwards with Tony’s friends Pat Claffey and Josie Adamson.”

Foster and Allen will be having their 50 Years of Hits concert night in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Saturday, January 18. Doors open 7pm.