lit a candle 14h agoMy mom texted me "Johnny McEvoy died" like I was supposed to know who that was. Looked him up, Muirsheen Durkin was playing in our kitchen my whole childhood and I never once asked the name of the guy singing it.
Their story
Johnny McEvoy was an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist whose voice carried Irish ballads and his own songs from parish halls to Carnegie Hall over six decades. Born in Banagher, County Offaly, on 24 April 1945, he became a household name in 1966 when his recording of the west of…
Johnny McEvoy was an Irish singer, songwriter and guitarist whose voice carried Irish ballads and his own songs from parish halls to Carnegie Hall over six decades. Born in Banagher, County Offaly, on 24 April 1945, he became a household name in 1966 when his recording of the west of Ireland ballad Muirsheen Durkin went to number one in Ireland. He died peacefully at his home in Greystones, County Wicklow, on Sunday 8 November 2026, aged 81.
Known as the Boy from Banagher, he was one of four children of John McEvoy, a bus driver, and Emily McEvoy, a housewife. The family moved to Dublin when he was six. He began singing at the age of four and turned professional at 18. His mother encouraged his music and suggested he record Muirsheen Durkin, while he later said his relationship with his father only really began once he became famous.
He started out in a duo, the Ramblers Two, with fellow art student Michael Crotty. In 1965 the pair supported the Rolling Stones at the Adelphi cinema in Dublin. After touring Ireland and England they went separate ways, and McEvoy's solo breakthrough came in late 1966 with Muirsheen Durkin, which held the top of the Irish charts for three weeks. The Boston Burglar followed to number one, and in 1967 he made his first tour of the United States, highlighted by a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. A third number one came with Nora, a version of When You and I Were Young, Maggie.
In the 1970s he formed a band and began writing his own material. His first song, Long Before Your Time, became his fourth Irish number one. Others, including Michael, Going to California, The Ballad of John Williams, Rich Man's Garden, Never Learned to Dance and The Ballad of Anne Frank, became standards recorded by other artists. The Planter's Daughter was written about his wife Odette. He released a long run of albums, from For the Poor and the Gentry in 1967 to Into the Cauldron in 2017, and his manager said he also had top 10 hits in the UK.
On stage he was best known for an intimate style, singing with an acoustic guitar and introducing old songs with stories from Irish history. In the 1970s he toured with a large band, and in later years often worked with just one other guitarist, such as Philip O'Duffy. In 2010 RTÉ broadcast a documentary on his life, and he re-recorded Muirsheen Durkin with Sharon Shannon and her Big Band for the double album and DVD For the Poor and for the Gentry: The Definitive Johnny McEvoy. He was still filling venues in 2026, according to Frances Black.
McEvoy met Odette in 1967 and they married in 1970. They had two children, Jonathan and Alice, and three grandchildren, Kyle, Isabella and Cinéad. When Odette was diagnosed with ovarian cancer he cancelled tours and recordings to care for her, and wrote a songbook with her help typing out the lyrics. She died on 12 November 2013.
He spoke openly in the early 1990s, on Gay Byrne's talk show, about living with manic depression, which he believed fame had triggered. Mick Foster of Foster and Allen credited him with being one of the first Irish entertainers to talk publicly about mental health. He gave up drinking in 1979 and said it might have saved his life.
His death was confirmed by his manager, Darren Farrell, who had travelled with him to every date since around 2007. Taoiseach Micheál Martin called him a true icon of Irish folk music, and Sharon Shannon, Frances Black and Offaly TD John Clendennen led tributes. His children said: "Dad's music meant so much to so many people, but to us, he was just Dad." The family said the funeral would be private. The cause of death has not been made public.
Biography adapted from RTÉ, The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Offaly Independent, Offaly Express (9 November 2026), Wikipedia. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“It wasn't a bad relationship. We just seemed to have no relationship... until, I became famous.”
On his father
“Giving up was the easiest thing I ever did and it might have saved my life.”
On giving up drinking in 1979
“Dad's music meant so much to so many people, but to us, he was just Dad.”
His children Jonathan and Alice, November 2026
“Deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Johnny McEvoy - a true icon of Irish folk music.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, 9 November 2026
“One of the finest interpreters of Irish song we have ever had.”
Frances Black, 9 November 2026
Photos
1Johnny McEvoy on the RTÉ One show Sandy, 1992
by People Forever
same, my dad's been humming it all day and I finally get why