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Johnny Fean of Horslips has died aged 71

Updated / Saturday, 29 Apr 2023 15:44
Happy to meet, sorry to part: Horslips pictured in the grounds of RTÉ in 1976 with Johnny on the right
Happy to meet, sorry to part: Horslips pictured in the grounds of RTÉ in 1976 with Johnny on the right

Guitarist and singer Johnny Fean of Irish trad rock band Horslips has died at the age of 71.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, the band said they are "deeply saddened" by the death of their bandmate, who passed away this morning at his home in Shannon, Co Clare.

"For well over 50 years, Johnny was our best friend, our creative collaborator, our guitar hero," the band said.

"Johnny wasn't only one of the greatest guitar players ever, he was also the sweetest man in rock and roll. His immeasurable talent won him countless supporters throughout the years. We remain his biggest fans.

"He devoted his life to music, and we’ll be forever thankful that he did."

Horslips also expressed their "heartfelt" condolences to Fean’s wife Maggie, brothers Ray, Donal, Shearie, sisters Gail and Coma, and his extended family.

"Johnny will be sorely missed," they said.

Horslips were formed by drummer Eamon Carr, multi-instrumentalists Jim Lockhart and Charles O'Connor, and bassist Barry Devlin in 1970, with Fean joining two years later.

They are regarded as founding fathers of Celtic rock, with hits including Dearg Doom and Trouble with a Capital T.

Johnny, Charles O'Connor, Barry Devlin, Jim Lockhart and Eamon Carr in 2014

Fean played on all ten of the band's albums, including landmark works Dancehall Sweethearts and The Book of Invasions.

Listen back to an archive interview with Johnny on lyric fm.

Johnny, who spent his childhood in Garyowen in Limerick and Shannon, where his father worked in the airport, also played banjo, mandolin and harmonica.

In an interview with lyric fm in 2013, he recalled his first brush with rock `n' roll. "I was very lucky living in Shannon because there were a lot of American families there with sons and daughters going into their teens," he said.

"The music they were listening to in 1962, they actually brought the LPs and singles over to Shannon and I got to hear The Supremes and Tamla Motown possibly before anybody in Ireland."

In his late teens, Johnny played in local group Sweet Street, who supported John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers in Cork, and country rock band Jeremiah Henry in 1970.

Speaking about joining Horslips, he recalled. "In 1970 I was playing the tenor banjo and I was learning quite a number of tunes and I was very much getting into the Irish traditional thing as well as having the guitar. Jeremiah Henry did a festival in Ballyvaughan the summer of 1972 and Horslips were topping the bill.

"That day, Horslips got to hear me playing and by the end of the summer they were looking for a guitar player and Charles O'Connor came down to my house in Shannon.

"I wasn’t in, but he left his phone number and a couple of days later I went up to Dublin and called into Jim Lockhart’s house on James’s Street. We just started to play and by the end of the evening he said would you like to join the band. I’d said I’d love to."

Fean and Carr also founded the Zen Alligators in 1980 before the break-up of Horslips the same year. The pair also played together in Host, which also featured O'Connor.

Johnny also played with former Miami Showband bassist Steve Travers in The Johnny Fean Band and had been playing again with Horslips on and off since 2009 on comeback tours featuring his brother Ray on drums.

The band recently released a boxset entitled More Than You Can Chew.

Tributes have been paid to Johnny.

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