Brendan Bowyer, the Irish Elvis who sent them home sweatin' night after night

PIONEER: Brendan Bowyer. Photo: RollingNews.ie

Barry Egan

In Send 'Em Home Sweatin': The Irish Showband Story, Vincent Power wrote: "In the 1960s, when Brendan Bowyer came to your town, he was Elvis."

BP Fallon, one of the panellists on the Telefis Eireann programme Pickin' the Pops, didn't see it like that. "I said in 1964 that he was an Elvis would-be, an unoriginal copyist," BP says now. "When I met Brendan, he had a chuckle and said 'Ah, there you are!' and gave me the warmest hug. A true gent."