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The History of Celtus. The History | Albums | Discography The Celts: This family of nations includes, the Irish, Erse, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Low Bretons. According to historic fable, Celtina was the daughter of Britannus. She had a son by Hercules, named Celtus, the Progenitor of the Celts. Pat, John & Tommy McManus grew up on a family farm near Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The parents, Valerie and John have a history steeped in music. John McManus senior, a fiddle, sax and guitar player and Valerie as a singer, are both respected to this day. They passed their musical talents on to their six children, three girls and three boys. The music was Irish traditional music, and the parents and children toured as a band together, playing gigs all across Ireland. Pat was drawn to fiddle and guitar and John to whistle, bodhran (Irish drum) and uilleann pipes. Pat made his first TV outing aged seven, going on to become All-Ireland Champion (on fiddle) by the time he was fourteen. At the age of eight, John notched-up his debut TV appearance with Matt Molloy of The Chieftains, also achieving successive victories at the All-Ulster Championship (on tin whistle) between the ages of seven and twelve. |
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| Tommy
was first diagnosed with leukemia at nine years old. His love of music
and strong determined will, baffled doctors with his complete recovery.
Tom got his first proper drum kit, as a Christmas present aged ten, as
his talents for beating out rhythms on the kitchen stools became
recognised.
Things began to change in 1978 when Pat, John and Tommy became huge fans of a celtic rock band called Horslips. So much so, they put their fiddles and pipes down and formed their own rock band called Pulse. Pat on guitar, John on bass and vocals and Tommy on drums. The boys followed Horslips around attending nearly every show possible and became good friends with them. Barry Devlin, (Horslips bass player) heard through the grapevine that the young brothers had their own band and were very good. Barry decided to visit the kids at their home to hear them rehearse. He was so impressed he immediately offered them the support slot on Horslips next tour in Ireland in 1979 - which for the boys, was a dream come true, and that was the beginning.. Tony Prince, a DJ at Radio Luxembourg, suggested the name Mama's Boys, because of their youth and naivety as Tommy was only 13 at the time. What started out as a joke stuck - and the Mama's Boys monicker became official. Mama's Boys gigged extensively around Ireland, and recorded their first (self-funded) album THE OFFICIAL BOOTLEG in 1980 in only 4 hours! Building up a fan base they were invited to support Hawkwind in the UK in 1981. The second self-financed album PLUG IT IN was recorded in a week in 1982 leading to the UK support slot for Wishbone Ash and headlining dates in Switzerland. The single 'Needle In The Groove' led to radio airplay, giving them their first hit in Ireland. |
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1983 they recorded their third album TURN IT UP and their popularity was
growing fast. The big break came when Phil Lynott asked them to support
on the Thin Lizzy Farewell Tour of Ireland, UK and Scandinavia. They
were then subsequently offered a slot at the Reading festival where they
were seen by Jive Records - and signed a world-wide record deal.
The first album on Jive titled MAMA'S BOYS was released in 1984. It was a compilation of the first two self-financed albums with 3 new tracks. One was a cover version of Slade's 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now' and another, a cover of 'If The Kids Are United' by Sham 69. |
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Jive
licenced the album through Arista Records for release in the US and
Canada and this led to extensive airplay creating positive media
exposure globally. The boys toured to promote the album which included
supporting the Scorpions in France and the UK.
Next was the band's first trip was America. The single 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now' was generating American radio airplay. The boys made their first video for the song which attained heavy rotation on MTV. First US dates were as support to Ratt and Rush and some further headlining shows in Canada. |
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& PASSION was recorded in 1985 and while touring in Ireland, they
heard the good news the album had gone into the Billboard Top 100 in the
States. They returned to the US to tour again with Ratt and Bon Jovi. During the US tour, they flew to England to play the Knebworth festival with Deep Purple and flew straight back to New York. From there they went to Japan to play with Foreigner and Sting and back to Ireland for a week off. Tommy had been feeling tired and unwell and it was discovered he had a relapse to the leukemia he had miraculously survived as a child. The band had to finish the POWER & PASSION tour in Europe, and were forced to find a replacement drummer to dep for Tommy. In came the American Jimmy DeGrasso, who later joined a band called Y&T. Pat and John were in constant contact with Tommy, who convinced them he was recovering well and would be fit and healthy enough to finish the tour which concluded in Ireland. This proved to be a bad decision, as Tommy was rushed back to hospital, suffering from another relapse as well as from dehydration. It was to be two years before the next
album release. 1989 brought new management and the
brothers moved to the UK. Singer Mike Wilson (who was previously signed
to Led Zeppelin's management) joined the brothers giving the sound a
harder edge. Dates in Ireland and Europe saw them back on the road, and
the fan base expanded rapidly. In 1991 a live album titled 'Live Tonite'
was released on CTM Records and over 100 concerts 1992 the studio album RELATIVITY was released on CTM which received critical acclaim, but unfortunately, it was to be their last. Tommy became ill again on tour in Italy in 1993 and forced the band to cancel all bookings. After extensive treatment, the doctors felt a bone marrow transplant would be the only sensible solution while he was still young. It was almost a year before a match was found and the transplant went ahead. Sadly, Tommy did not survive and passed away aged twenty eight in London in November 1994. This left Pat and John completely crushed and devastated. Both could not see themselves ever playing music again - and didn't for a full year.. On the first anniversary of Tommy's death, John picked up the low whistle and composed the instrumental track 'Brother's Lament' in memory of Tommy. He played it to Pat who loved it and they started to play some Irish music purely for fun. But, ideas started to formulate for songs, which caught the attention of Muff Winwood and in 1996 they signed a new record deal with Sony and CELTUS was born. |
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