Irish Singer Tommy Makem Dies at 74

This 1999 file photo, originally supplied by Barlow/Hartman, shows Tommy Makem performing. The Irish singer, songwriter and storyteller, who teamed with the Clancy Brothers to become stars during the folk music boom, died of cancer, in Dover, N.H., Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. He was 74.(AP Photo/Barlow/Hartman) (AP)

A young Bob Dylan was one of the folk singers who got to know Makem and the Clancys during the early 1960s.

"Topical songs weren't protest songs," Dylan wrote in his memoir "Chronicles Volume One." "What I was hearing pretty regularly, though, were rebellion songs, and those really moved me. The Clancy Brothers _ Tom, Paddy and Liam _ and their buddy Tommy Makem sang them all the time."

In 1992, Makem and the Clancys were among the stars performing in a gala tribute to Dylan at New York's Madison Square Garden. Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Tracy Chapman and Dylan himself also took part.

President Mary McAleese of Ireland led the tributes to Makem after his death. "Always the consummate musician, he was also a superb ambassador for the country, and one of whom we will always be proud," McAleese said.

Even while battling cancer, he was maintaining a performance schedule, and he visited Belfast last month to receive an honorary degree and returned to his native Armagh.

"He had very much wanted to get over there," said his son Conor. "I think he knew it might have been his last time over."

___

On the Net:

http://www.makem.com