Willie Clancy (musician)

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Willie Clancy (24 December 1918 – 24 January 1973) was an Irish uilleann piper.

Clancy was born into a musical family at Islandbawn near Milltown Malbay, County Clare. His parents (Gilbert Clancy and Ellen Killeen) both sang and played concertina, and his father also played the flute. Clancy's father had been heavily influenced by local blind piper Garret Barry and passed much of Barry's music on to Willie.

Willie started playing the whistle at age 5, and later took up the flute. He first saw a set of pipes in 1936 when he saw Johnny Doran playing locally. He obtained his first set of pipes two years later. His influences included Leo Rowsome, Séamus Ennis, John Potts, and Andy Conroy. Clancy won the Oireachtas competition in 1947. Unable to earn a living from music he emigrated to London where he worked as a carpenter.

Returning to Milltown Malbay in 1957 he recorded some influential 78 rpm recordings for the Gael Linn label - among them the classic reel selection "The Old Bush/The Ravelled Hank of Yarn." The next decades he stayed in Milltown Malbay.

Willie Clancy

Willie Clancy may refer to:

See also

Willie Clancy (hurler)

William "Willie" Clancy (born 1906) was an Irish hurler who played as a left corner-forward for the Cork senior team.

Born in Mallow, County Cork, Clancy first excelled at hurling in his youth. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of twenty-one when he first linked up with the Cork senior team. He joined the senior panel during the 1928 championship. Clancy subsequently became a regular member of the starting fifteen, and won one All-Ireland medal, one Munster medal and one National Hurling League medal.

Clancy was a member of the Munster inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, however, he never won a Railway Cup medal. At club level Clancy enjoyed a lengthy career with Mallow.

Throughout his career Clancy made 15 championship appearances. He retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 1934 championship.

Playing career

Club

Clancy played his club hurling with his local club in Mallow. The high point of his career, and indeed the highpoint of the club's history, came in 1928 when Mallow played Éire Óg in the final of the senior county championship. Mallow, however, lost on that occasion.