{"id":11471,"date":"2021-01-04T13:02:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T18:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/?p=11471"},"modified":"2021-01-04T13:12:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T18:12:27","slug":"liam-reilly-songwriter-and-lead-singer-of-bagatelle-1955-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/2021\/01\/04\/liam-reilly-songwriter-and-lead-singer-of-bagatelle-1955-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Reilly, Songwriter & Lead Singer of Bagatelle, 1955-2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liam Reilly, an acclaimed songwriter and former lead singer of the Irish folk-rock band Bagatelle, died on New Year\u2019s Day 2021 at age 65.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith sad hearts, the family of Liam Reilly, musician, songwriter and frontman of Bagatelle, wish to confirm that he passed away suddenly but peacefully at his home on January 1st,\u201d his family said in a statement. \u201cWe know that his many friends and countless fans around the world will share in our grief as we mourn his loss, but celebrate the extraordinary talent of the man whose songs meant so much to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly, who hailed from Dundalk, Ireland \u2013- where he was born on January 29, 1955 — but moved to Savannah, Georgia in the mid-1980s, wrote such songs as \u201cFlight of the Earls,\u201d \u201cThe Streets of New York,\u201d \u201cSecond Violin,\u201d and Bagatelle\u2019s signature hit \u201cSummer in Dublin.\u201d He formed Bagatelle in 1978, along with drummer Walter (Wally) McConville, bass player Ken Doyle and guitarist John O\u2019Brien. \u201cSummer in Dublin,\u201d its best-known song, appeared on the band\u2019s 1980 debut album. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a link to view a video of Liam Reilly performing \u201cSummer in Dublin\u201d on Irish television:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=FfLOnh4h-Og<\/a><\/p>\n

Reilly, who was also Bagatelle\u2019s keyboardist, left the band in the mid-1980s to pursue a solo career. Representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990, Reilly took second place with his performance of \u201cSomewhere in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a link to view a video of Liam Reilly performing \u201cSomewhere in Europe\u201d at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=ijcjpcHOHqI<\/a><\/p>\n

Besides writing songs for Bagatelle and his own recordings, Reilly composed songs for others and such artists as Phil Coulter, James Galway, Paddy Reilly, and The Wolfe Tones, among many others, have covered his songs. The Wolfe Tones had a big hit with their rendition of \u201cThe Streets of New York,\u201d Reilly\u2019s song about Irish emigration. Here\u2019s a link to view a lyric video for The Wolfe Tones’ rendition of “The Streets of New York:”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rvgo1rv40bA<\/a><\/p>\n

In social media posts following his death, The Wolfe Tones described him as a \u201cmaster songwriter.\u201d U2 frontman Bono previously cited Reilly and Bagatelle as early influences.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a link to watch Liam Reilly perform \u201cThe Flight of Earls:\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=U-TgjKp5QgY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liam Reilly, an acclaimed songwriter and former lead singer of the Irish folk-rock band Bagatelle, died on New Year\u2019s Day 2021 at age 65.<\/p>\n

[Click on the headline to continue reading this article and to view a few videos.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,18],"tags":[7985,7983,7982,7986,7984,2835],"class_list":["post-11471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celtic-corner","category-acousticapsules","tag-the-streets-of-new-york","tag-bagatelle","tag-irish-singer-songwriters","tag-irish-songs","tag-liam-reilly","tag-the-wolfe-tones","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11471"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11477,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11471\/revisions\/11477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticmusicscene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}