Who was the first Irish act to go to number one in the UK?
It seems to be the case right now that everyone is loving every single product to come out of Ireland.
Whether it’s Fontaines DC, Guinness, CMAT, or Tayto crisps, there’s just something about the magical isle that beguiles and intrigues just as much as it entertains. It’s the far-flung place of cultural elixir, even though it’s only just across the water. Of course, there is much to be said about how that expression gets convoluted over time, but it doesn’t seem that the Irish Renaissance is dying anytime soon.
This is all fine to state in principle, but when you actually look beyond the current moment of the zeitgeist, it’s easy to discover a whole Irish musical appreciation going back decade after decade, never mind only years. Eventually, you trail back all the way to the first-ever Irish act to top the charts in the UK, as the first chapter in the story that would go on to be so romantic.
It was 1964, and Irish music executives were clearly watching with envy as the Liverpudlian lads of The Beatles not only began to make waves across the world, but whipped up an entire tsunami of their own manic acclaim. But in many ways, it was an easy formula to replicate: just get some everyday boys together, have them sing some simple rock and pop songs, and – boom – you should be on to a winner.
And thus, The Bachelors were born, in the form of a trio of young, bright eyes from Dublin who headed to London, in search of similar stardom. When they released their cover of the song ‘Diane’, initially written as the theme of the 1927 silent film 7th Heaven, it was their time for a shot at the big leagues, making them the first Irish act to bag a UK chart-topper.
Was The Bachelors’ number one success replicated in Ireland?
While not trying to take this shining piece of acclaim in the history books away from The Bachelors, the irony – and hilarity – of the whole situation was that the homegrown band couldn’t repeat the same feat in their own native country. Although ‘Diane’ was indisputably a success in Ireland, it only reached number two.
The fact that The Bachelors were sprinkling their Irish charm further afield was no bad thing, however, as they also managed their highest-charting Stateside hit with the song, as it reached number ten in the Billboard Hot 100. It signalled a slew of hits for the band that all landed overseas in the years that ensued, from ‘The Stars Will Remember’ to ‘The Sound of Silence’, first made famous by Paul Simon.
But as the 1960s slowly drew to a close and other bands like The Beatles became enshrined in an untouchable league, things began to gradually simmer down for The Bachelors, who suddenly did not seem so eligible as they once were. They valiantly powered on until 1984 using the cabaret circuit as their leverage, until an unspecified “messy split” finally left the dream in tatters.
It was a sad ending to an undeniable stalwart piece of Ireland’s history, but even still, when we see all the artists of today flying the nest and making it on a global scale, they have a trio of long-since-forgotten Bachelors to thank for the trajectory of all their exports. Clearly, the run of luck had to start somewhere.
