Musician celebrates milestone birthday

CELEBRATIONS will be taking place this month on both sides of the Irish Sea for the 100th birthday of much-loved musician, Willie Devine (above).

Willie was born on the March 27, 1925 in the village of Park about ten miles from Derry. Although he was born on that day his parents never journeyed into Derry to register the birth for about six weeks, so Willie effectively has two birthdays!

He is a fantastic singer with unusual songs, introducing audiences and singers to numerous songs including the Mickey Dam and A Letter From America to name a few.

All Willie’s brothers and sisters and extended family were—and are—great singers and he grew up listening and learning local songs, Derry songs and general Irish songs. He brought many of these songs over to Scotland with him.

Willie began his working life getting hired at the hiring fair in Strabane when he was 12 years old. He was hired out to a Protestant farmer in Ballymena and stayed there for six months. After a spell elsewhere he was back at the Ballymena farmer. He had to sleep in the barn and was not allowed to eat in the house. Once a month the farmer’s wife would give Willie half a crown and a loan of her bike so Willie could go into town for a night, all without telling her husband.

He arrived in Glasgow in 1944 and began working in the building sites, labouring and driving machines. In 1946, Jimmy McHugh arrived in Glasgow and he told me Willie was the first Irishman he met in Glasgow who was interested in music. The first day they met at the site building Drumchapel housing scheme, Willie heard Jimmy whistling tunes, got talking and became lifelong friends. Willie took Jimmy for a pint after work and told the story about asking Jimmy if he played music. Jimmy replied that he did a bit of scraping on the fiddle. Jimmy invited Willie to his house for a session and Willie was amazed at his ‘scraping.’

Willie travelled all over Scotland for work, even managing to get a half day off work for his wedding, and met up with musicians and singers everywhere he went. Apart from singing he also played the melodeon for years and has a great fondness of Sligo music, especially the music of Michael Coleman. Willie can lilt and tell you names of numerous tunes and songs from all over Ireland. Willie has travelled all over Scotland, England and Ireland for music, with Jimmy McHugh and his friends and latterly with Jimmy’s sons and their friends.

Having now been retired for 35 years, Willie has spent his years going to concerts, weekends and sessions of music. Not only does he have a great love of Irish music, but Scottish music too. Over the years Willie has travelled all over Scotland, especially with Martin McHugh’s band Clachnacudden and has become very well known in Scottish music circles. Willie is a regular at the music nights in the Park Bar in Argyle Street, the Ben Nevis and the Islay Inn, all Scottish music pubs where the clientele all know him very well.

He is travelling home to Ireland for his birthday celebrations on March 27, which will include a full week of music in and around Derry and in Tyrone, where he has family. The following week, he will be back in time for a great night of Irish music in the Clutha Bar in Glasgow on April 7, with another party in the Park Bar the following Thursday. Willie will be in attendance for them all—not bad for being 100!