DECLAN AFFLEY

Declan James Affley (8 September 1939 – 27 June 1985) was an Australian folk singer and musician. Affley was born in Cardiff, Wales, to working-class Catholic parents of Irish descent. As a child, he learned to play the clarinet and picked up some Irish songs from his father. At age 16, he joined the British Merchant Navy and travelled to Japan and Australia, where he jumped ship in 1959 to find work on coastal ships based in Sydney. At a harbourside pub, the Royal George, he discovered the Sydney Push and joined its folksinging scene, which had links with other establishments in Melbourne.

Affley became a regular performer at the Troubadour Coffee Lounge in Sydney and later at Frank Traynor's Folk Club, Melbourne, leading to appearances at many other venues and folk festivals. Affley participated as a singer in an award-winning ABC television documentary, `The Restless Years’ (1966), which presented Australian history through songs, stories and poetry. In 1972 he accompanied Peter O’Shaughnessy and Marian Henderson to Ireland to perform a dramatised stage version at the Dublin Theatre Festival. He also played small parts in several films including Peter Weir's The Last Wave, and Richard Lowenstein's Strikebound, of which he was musical director. 

He recorded two albums, 'The Rake And Rambling Man' with Mike Ball in 1967 and 'The Day The Pub Burned Down' in 1970. He married Colleen Zeita Burke in Melbourne on 11 December 1967. A son and a daughter were born from the marriage. Affley was well known as a singer of traditional songs such as "Carrickfergus" as well as performing the work of contemporary songwriters including John Dengate, Don Henderson and Harry Robertson. He died suddenly at the age of 45 from a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta.

ALBUMS

'The Rake And Rambling Man' [with Mike Ball] 1967 Score

'The Day The Pub Burned Down' 1974 M7

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declan_Affley