The Gentry

The Gentry changed their name to The Nobility before adding brass in the late ’60s (thanks to Karen Mulligan).

From: Ballymena

Active: 196? – mid-70s

Style: pop-rock

Lineup (October 1966):

Cahir O’Doherty – vocals, rhythm guitar

Victor McCullough – lead guitar

Gerry O’Neill – organ (left January 1969)

Ronny Souter – bass, vocals

Mervyn Doole – drums

Lineup: (1969)

Cahir O’Doherty – vocals, rhythm guitar

Norman Lindsay – lead guitar

Scott Mulvey – organ

Ronny Souter – bass

Billy Boyd – drums

Bio:

The Gentry began life as a mid 60s beat group. The briefly changed their name to The Nobility in 1968 before reverting to the Gentry name again and began playing as a showband in the summer of 1969. They contined to play pop and rock material but crossed over into showband territory. This occasionally led to identity crisis problems, with rock fans viewing them as a showband and vice versa.

By far their most interesting track is the Pink Floyd-ish “Attempted Contact”, released as a B-side in 1969. “Let It Shine” is a decent gospel flavoured track. What would have been their debut single “Walk Under Water” was announced as early as January 1968 by CBS Records but this never came to pass. If it’s anything like “Attempted Contact”, it should be tracked down. The difference in style of the later material is explained by the many lineup changes. The only constant was singer and band leader Cahir O’Doherty.

There were many lineup changes over the years. Billy Boyd (drums) replaced Mervyn Doole. Norman Lindsay took over from Victor McCullough. Gerry O’Neill’s replacement was Scott Mulvey (keyboards). Ernie Durkin (ex Orange Machine, Blue, Cotton Mill Boys, later in Buckshot) (bass) and Greg Donaghy (ex Grannys Intentions, Blue, later in The Times) (drums) became the rhythm section sometime before 1970. The augmented lineup included Donie Devaney (sax) and Davey Trainor (sax). Paul Duffy also joined from Blue. Brian Harris (also in the Cats Pyjamas) replaced Norman Lindsay; Shay Murphy (ex Purple Pussycat) replaced Greg Donaghy in 1970. Seamus Caulfield also played drums at some point. Gerry Mulryan played trumpet at some point. There may have been other changes.

In mid-73 two members of Dublin rock band Jack (ex Adolf J Rag and The Urge) were lured into the band, bringing Jack to a halt. I don’t know much more about this at the moment but it may have been as a result of the Purple Pussycat (near) reunion (which took Brian Harris and Shay Murphy).

In May 1973, in Ken Stewart’s regular column in Billboard, the band was reported to be in London at AIR studios, recording under the direction of Peter Sullivan. Among the tracks to be recorded was a new version of “Let It Shine”. These recordings were never released.

Cahir O’Doherty eventually went solo, starring in the Joseph musical and fronting his own Dazzle Band in the mid-1970s and recording for various labels. He released his solo debut LP in 1975, “Rock My Soul” (EMI). O’Doherty and Harris played together again in the late 70s in Beats Workin’ with Bobby Kelly (ex The Hootenannys, The Chosen Few, The Greenbeats, Sands) on guitar, Bob Bolton (ex Stepaside, Swarrbriggs Band) on bass and Jimmy Compton (ex Lyttle People, Real McCoy) on drums. No relation to the pop/rock band active circa 1980.

Discography: