Valerie McManus with her two well known sons John and Pat McManus
THE TALENTED McManus family will this Sunday feature on TG4’s musical documentary series Ceol On Chlann.
The McManus family is one of six musical families to feature in the second series of the show.
Born into an incredibly talented musical family in County Fermanagh, it wasn’t long before Pat, John and Tommy McManus were picking up all the instruments lying around the house and learning to play.
Upon hearing the Horslips, the brothers swapped their fiddles, uilleann pipes and bodhrans and later formed the hard rock outfit Mama’s Boys. 1982’s hit single ‘Needle in The Groove’ had record labels vying with each other to sign the group and Phil Lynott invited them to play support on Thin Lizzy’s farewell tour.
Their ‘Power and Passion’ album broke into the Billboard Top 100 in the US but the bands success would be short-lived through a series of unfortunate events including the tragic death of Tommy McManus.
Sunday’s edition is the second episode in the series and will broadcast at 10pm on TG4. It will be repeated on Thursday, March 10 at 10pm.
The documentary series offers a fresh insight into the heritage of these Irish musical families, their legacy and their continuing significance in modern Ireland’s musical tapestry.