Born December 17th, 1939
Died January 22nd, 2025
Retaining the passion that steers anyone on their career path is a challenge, but Paddy Cole’s love for the music that defined his life was undimmed to the very end.
Born the second of seven children, Paddy was an only son among six sisters. His father, Pat, played saxophone in a local band and instilled in his son an early love for jazz and for that instrument. Both his father and his mother, Mary (née Hughes) were from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, and such was Paddy’s natural musical talent that he debuted with his father’s band at the age of 12. On many afternoons the bandwagon would pull up outside St Mary’s National School in Castleblayney, whisking a young Cole away from his studies to perform on stages across the region. Some might say his natural performance talents were to be seen even before that, as it was Cole who read the address when the bishop formally opened his primary school.
Cole went on to attend the local vocational school, but at the age of 15 he became fully professional, joining the Maurice Lynch Showband. Having grown up in a home where his father would order records by the jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie from the US, he was well-versed in the intricacies of swing, embraced his new musical milieu with delight.
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Family was always central to his life. He married Helen (nee Hehir) from Drumcolliher in 1965, and they lived in Castleblayney, where later they bought and ran a very successful pub and restaurant, Paddy Cole’s Place, where he frequently performed.
Cole graduated to the Capitol Showband in the 1960s and from there to Brendan Bowyer and the Big Eight Showband. From 1971 to 1974 Cole and the band would spend six months of the year in Las Vegas, playing three shows a day, six days a week. It was not unusual for their dressingroom to be visited by stars including Elvis Presley, Rock Hudson, Muhammad Ali and members of the Rat Pack who were winding down after their own performances. During this time Cole befriended the actor and singer Roy Rogers and the pair enjoyed socialising together. Once when former Sunday World editor, Kevin Marron, was visiting Paddy in Vegas, the phone rang and Paddy was heard to say “if that’s Roy Rogers, tell him I’m not home.” This was a source of great amusement to Marron, as Rogers was a huge name in Hollywood.
Cole, Brendan Bowyer and the Big Eight toured Ireland for the second six months of each year. In Las Vegas, he formed his own band, The Paddy Cole Superstars. He played both saxophone and clarinet, with the latter instrument being closest to his heart.
In the early 1990s, Paddy and his wife sold their pub and restaurant and moved to Ballsbridge in Dublin, which was a more convenient base for his musical travels.
Cole had the honour of playing with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans, with his performance rated by one of the band members as “not bad for a white guy”. Cole greatly appreciated this opportunity to play in what is considered to be the birthplace of jazz and headlining his own shows on Bourbon Street marked the pinnacle of his career in many ways.
He also headlined many international tours to that American city and to the Caribbean, and found a new chapter in corporate gigs such as the Budweiser Derby. He quietly supported a raft of charities from the Make A Wish Foundation to Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and St Luke’s Hospital. He was chair of RAAP (Recording Artists Actors Performers) for 25 years and worked hard to ensure that artists got paid their royalties at a time when such advocacy was uncommon.
A sideways move into radio broadcasting on Sunshine 106.8FM began in 2004 and afforded him another opportunity to immerse himself in the music he loved. American trumpeter, singer and bandleader Louis Prima was one of Cole’s favourite artists, beloved not only for his musicianship, but for his wit. On radio he found a niche as an empathetic interviewer who drew the best out of his guests.
While the world grappled with the pandemic in 2020, Cole published his autobiography, Paddy Cole: King of the Swingers. It chronicled a life lived to the full, defined by an irrepressible wit and passion for music and people, followed closely by an innately competitive love for golf. He was a member of Castle Golf Club in Dublin and Lahinch in Co Clare. On both courses, every €5 note would be played for as if it was his last.
Charismatic, warm, witty and openly affectionate, Cole would invariably encounter people when out walking who would want to reminisce with him about the showband days, with tales of draughty dance halls and dance hall promoters peppering their conversation, his son Pat recalled. These encounters were a source of energy for him, propelling him ever onwards. Cole and Dickie Rock said their final goodbyes to public performance in the same concert in 2019.
President Michael D Higgins stated that “the loss of Paddy Cole is the loss of one of the founding icons of the great period of the Irish showbands.”
Cole was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2022. He dealt with the news with the same pragmatism that defined his life, discarding the things he could no longer do, but moving forward to live life to the fullest possible extent. Just a week before his passing he was still walking to Herbert Park and buying his daily newspaper. He was a firm believer in the Clint Eastwood philosophy of “don’t let the old man in”, and so until very recently, he continued to relish his weekly gatherings with his son Pat and grandson Paddy, as well as with his showband and golfing buddies.
At his funeral, Cole’s lifelong friend, Fr Brian D’Arcy spoke of him as a real pro who always played well, dressed well and showed up on time. That professional attitude propelled him at a time when the showbands were in their heyday, with huge dance halls operating all week, throughout the country.
Cole was a force of nature who had a lot of tenacity and grit. There was no difference between the public and private person. He could easily have been creative in many other ways. He was proficient in the Irish language, and could have been successful in industry, but there was only one path that he wanted to pursue, and he did that with an enviable enthusiasm.
His roots were important to him and in 2019 a mural was unveiled in his honour in Castleblayney. His funeral cortege paused at that site as he made his journey home.
He is survived by his wife Helen, children Pearse, Pat and Karen, his nine grandchildren, and his four sisters Mae, Carmel, Lucia and Betty. He was predeceased by his sisters, Sadie and Jacinta.
