Rory Gallagher to be honoured at annual Cork Person of the Year ceremony

Cork’s greatest rock star is to be honoured at an awards ceremony on his home street in January, marking the start of the 30th anniversary of his passing.

The annual Cork Person of the Year awards lunch will be held on Friday, January 24, in The Metropole Hotel on MacCurtain Street, the street where Rory Gallagher grew up, and the ceremony will honour the life of one of the city’s favourite (adopted) sons.

Rory was born in the Rock Hospital in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, on Tuesday, March 2, 1948, and he moved to Cork with his mother Monica and his younger brother Donal in 1956. 

They lived at 27 MacCurtain Street, over the pub that Rory’s grandmother owned, The Modern Bar.

Rory passed away on Wednesday, June 14, 1995, at the age of 47, three decades into a career that saw him tour the world, release 14 solo albums during his lifetime, and become one of the world’s most influential musicians.

January’s Cork Persons of the Month annual awards will mark the start of the year of the 30th anniversary of his death and will see the blues legend honoured by the Lord Mayor and the Mayor of Cork County.

The mayors will remember Rory Gallagher’s career and make a presentation on stage to Rory’s brother and manager, Donal.

The organiser of the awards ceremony, Manus O’Callaghan, told The Echo the love for Rory in his hometown was as great now as it had ever been.

“Rory Gallagher was Ireland’s first international star and led the way for many others such as U2, and we found a groundswell of opinion in Cork that people just wanted to recognise his greatness,” he said.

“I remember often seeing Rory on MacCurtain Street, as I worked at number 26 and Rory often visited his granny who had a pub next door in number 27.

“So it’s very appropriate that his special honorary event should happen in his home street," Mr O'Callaghan said.

There has been some controversy over the summer about the planned sale in London next month of Rory’s 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster, which is expected to fall into private hands for an estimated £700,000 (€833,110) to £1m (€1.19m).

That guitar was sold to a 15-year-old Rory for £100 by Michael Crowley at Crowley’s Music Centre on Merchant’s Quay in 1963.

Now, a fundraiser set up by Michael’s daughter, Sheena, proprietor of Crowley’s Music Centre on Friar Street, to purchase the guitar has already raised over €32,500 and a concert night in Rory’s honour will take place in Cork City Hall on Sunday, September 15.  Tickets are €25, with all proceeds going toward the fundraiser, and are on sale at Crowley’s Music Centre and on Eventbrite.