It was 1963 and  Ireland was swinging to the showband sounds.
And right up there at the top of the tree was the legendary Capitol Showband,
trail blazers for a generation of musicians and dancers.
The Capitol were magic. And they were very good. At a time when the smile on the dial for many radio listeners was the famous Luxembourg 208, these Irish boys were setting the woods on fire.
Their dancing programme of dixieland, ballads, country, pop and beat numbers were drawing vast crowds to dances. They were the first Irish showband to have their own weekly programme on Radio Luxembourg (1963) and the first showband to appear at the London Palladium in May, 1964.
They also appeared on "Thank your Lucky Stars"The Eamonn Andrew's Show and
Telefis Eireann's "The Showband Show"
The Capitol had four number ones in the Irish charts. Their featured lead singer Butch Moore had three of them with Down Came the Rain, Born to be With You, and Walking the Streets in the Rain which was Ireland's first Eurovision entry in 1965.
The fourth chart topper was The Black Velvet Band, sung by Johnny Kelly, which stayed in the charts for 25 weeks and was part of the big ballad boom of that era.
At the height of their success, the members of the Capitol were Butch Moore, Des and Johnny Kelly, Paddy Cole, Eamonn Monaghan, Don Long, Jimmy Hogan and Paul Sweeney, with Bram McCarthy from Cork later taking over from Paul after he decided to loave to concentrate on his architectural studies.
They were managed by Jim and Tom Doherty.

In 1959 Des Kelly and his brother, John,
Together with their sister, Bernie, formed
The Quicksilver Dance Orchestra later to become The Capitol

Courtesy of Liam O'Reilly Collection

Ireland's greatest pop sensations of the 1960s
Butch Moore and The Capitol Showband.
Their hit recordings included Foolin' Time, Born to Be with You,
Down Came the Rain and Walking the Streets in the Rain.
 The Streets of Baltimore
The first ever LP recorded by a showband was called
"Presenting the Capitol Showband".
It contained mostly Irish ballads performed to a "showband" beat,
but one of the most poplular tracks was
"Silver Threads and Golden Needles" an old country standard.

L-R Don Long(Trombone)(Donie Collins) Bram McCarthy (Trumpet,RIP)
Johnny Kelly (Drums,RIP), Standing behind him in the red shirt is
Eamon Monahan(Piano), Sitting on drum Butch Moore(Vocals /Rythm Guitar RIP)
Des Kelly (Bass /Bandleader), Paddy Cole (Saxes/Clar.) and
kneeling Jimmy Hogan(Guitar/Banjo/Mandolin).
All bandmembers could sing.

Capitol in the U.S.A.

Courtesy of Liam O'Reilly Collection

Read This Article about the Band
Donegal Peoples Press
Story of the Capitol Showband
By John Baird

Teresa Conlon and Butch
Teresa Conlon wrote the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest entry
 "Walking the Streets in the Rain."

Songwriter Teresa Conlon nee O'Donnell
who composed Ireland's first Eurovion Entry
"Walking The Streets In The Rain"
died on Thursday 19 May 2006.
R.I.P.
Eddie Kelly"
eddkell@eircom.net

                           Phil Coulter with Butch and Des

Phil Coulter,wrote the Capitol Showband's 1963 hit "Foolin' Time"
Other notable compositions of the era include Twinkle's 1964 smash "Terry"
 and Them's oft-covered garage-rock classic "I Can Only Give You Everything." Still,
Coulter enjoyed his greatest success as a writer after teaming up with collaborator Bill Martin;
 together they authored some of the biggest pop hits of the period, including
 Sandie Shaw's Eurovision-winning "Puppet on a String" and Cliff Richard's "Congratulations."
Click photo for Link

From  John Bairds collection
         bairdart@iol.ie

Butch Mooresinging "Walking the streets in the rain".
The popular Dublin man was the lead singer
with the hugely popular Capitol showband,
who were then at the height of their fame.
The publicity generated by his Eurovision performance
brought Ireland it's first Eurovision number one hit.

Capitol Showband (reunion) show
in the Braemor Rooms, Dublin. 1984
From the collection of Frank Curran (frankcurran@eircom.net)

Butch with his number one fan Camilla Morrison
Ballymote Co Sligo
Photo from Camilla's File's

Butch Video

Gresham Hotel Dublin
I must say how much I enjoyed your pages on the Capitols I heard my Dad over the years
telling us about the days with the Capitol, but I never realised how famous they were.
My dad passed away 2 years ago (God Rest Him) and these photos were in his collection,
The Gresham hotel photo shows him and my mum (Patricia Chalmers) on the far right. with
Des Kelly and Mercedes at table beside him and Johnny Kelly and his partner behind them.
The Kelly's and my dad became friends at St. Jarleths College Tuam

Dear Ian,
        If you would get in touch with Michelle, you can tell her that the people in the photograph are:
-  Seated, Des Kelly and his wife, Maura (Nee Brogan),
Carmel Doherty, & John Mc.Nally's Girlfriend
(I can't remember her name).
While standing are:- Mercedes and Johnny Kelly,
Jim Doherty (The manager of the Capitol) & John Mc Nally.
    John, from Lanesboro, Co Longford, was a friend of the Kelly's
who worked in Dublin Airport and shared the same digs;
'Bona Bawn' on Drumcondra Road.
    I knew her Dad, Gabriel ("Duff's") very well during the early days.
He took over the driving job after I left.
Yours sincerely,
Frank Curran.
frankcurran@eircom.net

Gabriel Duffy with Johnny Kelly
Johnny Kelly ( God Rest Him) was his best Man and Witness.

My late father , Gabriel Duffy was a roadie for many years with the Capitol Showband and great friends with Des and Johhny Kelly. Until his death on 5th February 2002, he entertained the whole family with stories of life on the road with the Capitol and the craic they had. He met my mother, Patricia Chalmers from Glasgow, when he was with the Capitol in the Arcadia Ballroom in Bray, and followed her to Scotland for the Hogmanay - which he heard was great over here - and they married in Rowanwood , near Bray in County Wicklow, where my grandmother had her holiday home, They came to settle hear in Scotland and I was their first child and the first Duffy to be born in Scotland in 1966, so you could say I owe my existance to the Capitol Showband. A little anecdote; they married the day before a member of the Royal showband whose wedding was at the same hotel. The next morning my scottish grandfather came down to another wedding and thought these Irish weddings were great - they lasted two days, but he never noticed the bride was not his OWN DAUGHTER.
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