William P. Dooley
Dear Friends,
It is with heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and longtime bandmate Bill Dooley. On Monday November 4th he died peacefully at his home surrounded by his family after a heroic battle with cancer.
Having been married for 55 years, Bill was a dedicated family man, and had five children and six grandchildren. He was also a superb singer, guitarist and songwriter, and an accomplished pastel artist.
As to the musical side of him, Bill started out singing at home with his brothers harmonizing and recording the popular doo-wop songs of the 1950s on a Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder that our father had given us one Christmas. Appreciating all kinds of music, Bill and his brothers moved on to harmonizing barbershop quartet music and singing the songs of the Kingston Trio and many other folk music artists of the day. As the sixties rolled on, Bill was particularly influenced by the songs and 12 string guitar playing of renowned folk musician, Bob Gibson. Bill would have the good fortune to befriend him and make music with him in the years to follow.
In 1967, Bill, along with brothers Joe and Jim, founded the original Dooley musical group known at the time as “The Dooley Boys”. They performed at colleges and various coffeehouses and nightclubs in and around Chicago especially in the Old Town and Rush Street areas. A few years later youngest brother Mike joined the group and the four of them became known as “The Dooley Brothers.” This aggregation would go on to perform at thousands of venues in the ensuing decades. Other Dooley family members joined the band in recent years including Bill’s nephew Mick and Bill’s niece Claire. Through all of those years Bill performed and recorded with the band until several years ago when he had to cut back due to health issues.
Bill had a beautiful singing voice on the lead vocal and also was particularly adept at figuring out and blending that tricky third vocal harmony part in the ensemble. His playing on the 6-string and 12-string guitars was always solid and he had a unique finger-picking style all his own. A prolific songwriter on varied subjects, his most requested song was “Black Sunshine”, a whimsical tune extolling the virtues of espresso coffee.
Bill was of course a talented musician but most of all of all we remember our brother Bill as a kind, compassionate and gentle soul who has always been an inspiration to us about how to live our lives well.
God bless you Bill and thank you for all you gave us.
The Dooleys
Jim, Mike, Mick & Claire
There are numerous photos of Bill from childhood up to recent times on our website in the Archives section.
If you would like to listen to some songs featuring Bill, click on the links for Spotify and You Tube
on the home page of our website. http://www.dooleybrothers.com
On Spotify:
Black Sunshine (original song written by Bill)
So Do I
On You Tube:
I Remember You
Chilly Winds
March Appearances
It’s always gratifying this time of year to turn the calendar page from February to March in anticipation of the milder weather on the way. Plus we have our traditional St. Patrick’s Month public appearances coming up: Goldyburgers in Forest Park on Saturday March 2 (7:30pm); FitzGerald’s St. Patrick’s Fest in Berwyn on Saturday March 16 (5:00pm); and the St. Patrick’s Day Fest at the Irish American Heritage Center on the northwest side of Chicago on Sunday March 17 (4:30pm). We’ve been playing at these three venues virtually every March since the early 1980s and it’s always a blast! Check out the Schedule section on this website for all of the details.
Read MoreSaturday February 3 at IAHC
We’re all going a little stir crazy in the middle of these winter doldrums, right? There will be music, merriment and laughter this coming Saturday February 3 at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub! (Please note: the previously scheduled date of February 17 has been reset to February 3.) It’s a perfect casual place for family and friends to get together. The Fifth Province Pub serves food and your favorite beverages and of course there is no cover charge. There’s plenty of free parking in the big lots right next to the building too! It’ll be a great way to dispel some of that cabin fever! Music will get underway at 8:00 p.m.
Happy New Year to you!
We sincerely hope that the beginning of this new year finds you in good health and good spirits and that you have enjoyed quality time with family and friends throughout the recent holidays.
Over this past year it was wonderful to see so many of you at our performances at clubs, festivals, libraries and various outdoor shows. There were lots of memorable and fun times at our regular venues such as the Irish American Heritage Center, Goldyburgers and FitzGerald’s. Then among the many concerts were the Brookfield Street Festival, the River Forest Public Library, the Long Grove Irish Fest, and Dominican University (where the concert was moved indoors to their auditorium because it was 100 degrees outside on that sweltering day in August!)
The band is excited for what this new year will bring! During the month of January we will be in the recording studio doing more songs for our new album which is planned for be release in the months ahead.
We do appreciate your coming out to our live shows and expect to be doing more of the same during the coming year! Our next appearance at the IAHC Fifth Province Pub is Saturday February 10. And we are scheduled to be back at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn for their annual St. Patrick’s Celebration on Saturday March 16! Many more show dates are on the way too!
As always, please know how grateful we are for your continued support and friendship over the past five decades and we look forward to sharing our music with you for years to come! You are the biggest reason why we sing! Thank you!
Our best wishes to you for a happy and healthy 2024!
The Dooleys – Jim, Mike, Mick and Claire
June concerts
Here we go. Summer at last! . . . On June 10 we’ll kick off our summertime concert season at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub (8pm) . . . June 17 it’s the Deerfield Farmer’s Market (9:30am) . . . June 24 we’ll be onstage in Brookfield for their street festival called “Music on Grand” (4:30 pm) . . . And peeking ahead, on July 5 we’re at the Dominican University “Summer Concert on the Quad” in River Forest (7pm) . . . Check out all of the details in the Schedule Section of this website. Hope to see you all this summer!
Read MoreMarch Activities
It’s always a most welcome time of the year as the calendar turns over to March and we launch into our “St. Patrick’s Month” of performances. On Saturday night March 4 we’ll be at Goldy’s in Forest Park, where we’ve been playing practically every year in March going all the way back to 1980 . . . . Friday March 17, St. Patrick’s Day itself, takes us to the Irish American Heritage Center. Lots of activities going on at the Center that day, and our show will run from 6:30 – 8:15 that evening . . . . The following day, Saturday March 18, the band will be back once again at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, for our 38th year at their annual St. Patrick’s festivities. The band will be on stage at FitzGerald’s that day from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. . . . . For further details on these public performances check out the Schedule section on this website. So, we hope to see you at one of these venues or perhaps even at one of the many private luncheons and shows we’ll be doing!
A Happy St. Patrick’s Month and a Happy Spring to one and all!
September Concerts
It’s been a great summer and now we are looking forward to playing several concerts in September – two outdoors and one indoors: Saturday September 3 at Long Grove Irish Days from 1:30 – 3:30; Saturday September 10 at the River Forest Public Library from 7:30 – 9:00; and Sunday September 18 from 6:15 – 7:15 at the Irish American Heritage Center’s Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day Fest. All of the details are in the Schedule section on this website. And speaking of this website, we keep adding new items to the photo and poster and newspaper articles sections in the Archives so take a look when you have a chance. Hope to see you at one or all of our September appearances!
Read MoreNew Features Added to Website!
There are some new features we just added to the Archives section on our website which we think you will enjoy. Just click on Archives, and you will see four options. In the Photo Galleries section of the Archives we have sorted our photos by decades, going from the present decade all the way back to the 1960s. Click on individual photo to enlarge image and read caption. The Newspaper/Magazine Articles section in the Archives contains selected stories and articles about the band from various publications over the years. In the Posters Gallery in the Archives there are dozens of band posters and flyers from the very first one from the sixties all the way up to the most recent. The posters are arranged more or less in chronological order starting from the earliest to the present. We will be adding lots more photos, articles and posters in the future so be sure to check back from time to time.
And in the new Clubs/Venues Through the Years section in the Archives we have compiled a list of nightclubs and restaurants and music venues where we have appeared from 1967 up to the present day. Included are capsule descriptions of each place. If you have any additions to this list or a story or two to share please email us at dooleyinfo@dooleybrothers.com/ We’d love to hear from you! . . .
Our next date at the Fifth Province Pub at the Irish American Heritage Center is Saturday June 18 at 8:00 p.m. That also happens to be “Father’s Day Eve”. It’s never too early to start making plans to come on out with family and friends!