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Bio:
The Finnavons began life as a Country & Western showband from the Mecca
of that sort of thing, the town of Castleblaney in County Monaghan. With lead singer
Gerry Black getting top billing on their debut single, they scored a minor hit with
it's A-side "An Exile's Dream", a mawkish C&W ballad, released on Target in Ireland
and Pye in the UK. A second single "Wabash Cannonball" appeared the following year.
With even more of a country/Nashville sheen than the debut thanks to prominent
country fiddle and a twangy vocal, it failed to build on their earlier success (the
flipside "Judy" was chosen as A-side for the Pye release in Britain).
Tom Allen replaced Gerry Black as lead singer
later the same year and the band moved in a pop direction for what would prove to be
their last single, a cover of the Soulful Dynamic's "Mademoiselle Ninette", an Irish
only release which is now sought
after thanks to some groovy organ over a steady Equals style beat. An 1970 clip from
the RTE archives shows the band performng this track onstage at a dance hall but Tom Allen,
while onstage, does not provide the lead vocal. This was their final release.
Tom Allen later fronted the Sailors Showband before taking on the dizzying heights of
the lead singer position with the Mainliners Showband in 1978, replacing John Glenn
who had earlier replaced the legendary Big Tom McBride. By 1980 he was solo, scoring
a huge novelty hit in Ireland with "Who Shot J.R. Ewing?". Tom is the brother of Tony
Allen of Foster & Allen fame.
Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic. If you can help, then please get in touch.