Apr 23 2018
‘Rose Brennan…’
Rose Brennan was born in 1931 and lived with her family on Lower Carnlough Road, (the first Keyhole) in Cabra West. When she was 16 years of age she started singing with the Neil Kearns Orchestra at Dublin’s Olympic Ballroom, Johnny Devlin’s De Luxe Orchestra at the Crystal Ballroom, and the Pavilion (popularly known as “The Hangar”) in Salthill, County Galway. Roy Fox booked her in 1949 for his stage show at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. When Fox moved on, Rose joined the Billy Watson Band at Clery’s Ballroom. She was also a regular voice on Radio Eireann’s Happy Days and Beginners Please series. In April 1951 Elizabeth Batey, vocalist with Joe Loss, fell and broke her jaw. Joe was badly in need of a replacement and remembered hearing Rose Brennan on radio during a visit to Ireland. Within days he had located her and, before a week was out, she was in Manchester rehearsing with the band. She stayed with Loss for fifteen years, before giving up show-business in the mid 1960’s. She wrote many of the songs she recorded under the name Marella, and co-wrote songs with John Harris. Rose sang until 1966 with the Joe Loss Orchestra for weekly programs on the BBC and nightly at the Hammersmith Palais. She gave up show business and retired to run a pub, the Norland Arms in West London, with her husband John Lamb, an ex-policeman…’