Photo Gallery – Band Lineups – Discography – Audio samples – Where Are They Now?
The Story In 1964, two brothers, Joe and Ben Dolan, put together a band that would help shape Irish pop music for the next decade and beyond. The brothers knew they could make a go of music and quit their day jobs (Ben as a carpenter and Joe as a compositor) and formed The Drifters in 1964 with Ben on Sax and Joe as guitarist and lead singer. The other members of the band were: Sid Aughey (drums), Jimmy Horan (bass), Tommy Swarbrigg (trumpet), Joey Gilheaney (trombone), and Des Doherty (keyboards). The band’s first record was an an old Del Shannon song, “The Answer To Everything,” which went to No. 4 in the Irish Charts. The story of Joe Dolan is well known and documented on this site on our feature on The Drifters, but this is the story of the “other” five lads in the band. For almost five years, The Drifters Showband enjoyed enormous success on the Irish charts and in the ballrooms. Joe Dolan (still the band’s guitarist) was enjoying a fast rise to the top of the Irish entertainment
