Seán Potts

Seán Potts (born October 5, 1930 in Dublin , † February 11, 2014 there ) was an Irish musician .

Seán Potts grew up in a family of musicians: his uncle was the famous violinist Tommy Potts. The family's attempts to get him interested in the violin or the uillean pipes failed: he preferred the tin whistle . In the mid-1950s he met Paddy Moloney and Michael Tubridy , with whom he worked a lot. In the late fifties he played in a band with Paddy Moloney, banjo player Barney McKenna (later with the Dubliners ), singer Larry Tracey and the flutist and tap dancer Paidí Bán Ó Broin, who passed away at an early age, who attached great importance to the Gaelic language . Paddy Moloney regards this formation as the first incarnation of the Irish folk band The Chieftains .

In 1959 Potts and Moloney got into Seán Ó Riada's band Ceoltóirí Chuallan, in which Potts mainly played tin whistle, but also flute and percussion. He later became a founding member of the Chieftains. Here he can be heard on the albums The Chieftains 1 to The Chieftains 8 . In 1968 he left with Martin Fay at short notice to work at the Gael Linn Cabaret, but was back in time for album No. 2.

In 1973 he released the album Tin Whistles with Paddy Moloney , on which only two Tin Whistles (with bodhran accompaniment by Peadar Mercier) can be heard.

After the album The Chieftains 8 he left the band with Tubridy in 1979, especially because of his fear of flying. In the following years he worked for the radio and wrote and played a. a. Pieces for Radio Telefís Éireann .

In 1988 he founded the band Bakerswell for an album and a tour, in which his son Seán óg Potts also played the Uillean Pipes. Other members were the violinists Kevin Glackin, John Kelley Jr., John McEvoy, the flute player Mick Hand and the harpist Noirin Ó'Donoghue.

On the occasion of the death of Derek Bell in 2002, he played again with his old colleagues from the Chieftains in the original line-up. In 2010, at the age of almost 80, he released his first solo album ( Number 6 ). He died on February 11, 2014 at the age of 83.

Discography

• Ceoltóirí Chuallan (see under The Chieftains )
• The Chieftains 1 to The Chieftains 8 (see under The Chieftains )
• Seán Potts & Paddy Moloney: Tin Whistles (1973)
• Bakerswell: Bakerswell (1988)
• Seán Potts: Number 6 (2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chieftains founder Potts dies , accessed on February 17, 2014 (English)

Web links

• Seán Potts in the Internet Movie Database (English)