This article was published in the Donegal News in April of last year. We carry the feature again in tribute to Hugh whose death occurred on Monday.
BY DIARMAID DOHERTY
HUGH McLean can still remember taking to the stage with Willie Ponsonby’s Dance Band in the North Star Ballroom in Carrigart back in April 1963.
He was just 18 years of age and it was his first time to play in a band that had a much-changed line-up that night.
There on stage were members of the Ponsonby family – Ina, Terry, Willie and Eamonn, and not only were they joined by Hugh, but also making his first appearance was a young Ted Ponsonby.
Hugh recalls: “Ted didn’t actually play that night, he got up and sang two songs. Terry bought Ted a guitar after that and I taught him how to play it.”
Sixty years later, Hugh’s contribution to music and entertainment will be celebrated with a special event in Letterkenny on Monday night.
Organised by the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group, Hugh will be the special guest at the Station House Hotel where a host of familiar names from the music world will also be in attendance.
That night in the North Star Ballroom in Carrigart gave Hugh his first taste of live entertainment – and he was hooked.
“I loved it,” he said.
“Thankfully the band members accepted me on board and I stayed with them for a good while after that.”
With the Showband era taking off, Hugh soon linked up with The Blue Glows and it was with them that Hugh recorded a first LP playing guitar and singing.
In 1971, along with his good friend Fergus Cleary, he recorded The Finn Harps Song – an anthem that is part of the fabric of the club all these years later.
And then in 1973 he joined Evelyn and the Envoys, another special chapter in a memorable career.
“A few years later, the Mighty Avons were looking for a guitar player. I joined them as lead guitarist and Brendan Quinn was lead singer.”
The Mighty Avons recorded the song The Leprechaun in 1976 and it immediately became a chart sensation prompting big demand on the band and its members.
Hugh McLean with his platinum discs.
Hugh recalls The Sunday World newspaper coming to Donegal to write a special feature.
At that time, away from the stage, one of Hugh’s big past-times was hang-gliding and the team from the Sunday World joined him at the top of Muckish Mountain.
“The top of the mountain is flat, but there’s a drop of 1,000 feet before it levels off again,” Hugh said.
“I remember us looking down and the guy from the paper saying ‘You’re not going to jump are you?”.
“I jumped off and the wind took me back up about 1,000 feet. The boys from the Sunday World thought it was crazy stuff.
“I think the story in the paper that weekend went with the heading ‘The Madman with the Kite’.
Hugh quickly swapped his passion for hang-gliding for something a little more dependable when he qualified as a pilot and bought his first airplane.
Hugh McLean with his light aircraft which he loved to fly.
He flew out of Stephenson’s Field and recalls a time when fellow flying enthusiasts ensured it was a busy and popular spot on the outskirts of Letterkenny.
Now aged 78 Hugh is still licensed to fly and his son Hugh Jnr., a pilot, has followed his dad’s passion for the pastime and has his own plane which he flies out of Convoy.
“My license is still valid, provided I pass a medical each year,” Hugh said.
“I still fly my son’s plane in Convoy so I haven’t stopped flying just yet.”
Now living in Lisjack outside Letterkenny with his wife Florence, they have six children, Steve, Hugh Jnr., Jacqueline, Martin, Mark and
Kevin.
Hugh is taking life a little easier but he has a recording facility at home where he presents a radio programme on Donegal Bay Radio and where he also worked on a new CD which will be officially released at Monday night’s event in Letterkenny.
The CD will feature a song which he wrote about his home town of Letterkenny – ‘The place where I call home’ and the CD is named ‘Stuff that works’.
“I like stuff that works,” Hugh points out.
He’s come a long way since leaving Lurgybrack National School at just 14 years of age to take up employment with Donegal Oil Company on the Port Road. He stayed there until going full-time into music and has enjoyed so many good times and special memories.
“I don’t like to single out any highlights because there have been so many good times and I’ve met so many special people along the way,” Hugh said.
“The biggest crowd I played in front of was at the Tiger Stadium in Detroit. It was home to the Detroit Tigers baseball team and there were 33,000 people in the stadium that day.
“It was back in 1980 and they used to have an Irish festival for St. Patrick’s Day. I played on my own. I got up on stage with my guitar and played a few songs.
“It was something else playing in front of 33,000 people but there were six million people watching the concert on television as well.”
Around that time, Hugh was also honoured with the Freedom of the City of Philadelphia – an award which still brings great pride after all these years.
And next Monday night, a lot closer to home, those who have grown up with Hugh’s music and song will have their own chance to pay tribute to a man whose contribution to entertainment is almost unmatched in this county.
“I got lucky in music,” Hugh said.
“Music was good to me, and it gave me a living and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
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