Seán Creedon pays tribute to the popular singer Dickie Rock who sadly left us last December

 

From the candy store on the corner
To the chapel on the hill,
Two young lovers are longing to go there
And they dream some day they will….

 

The opening lines of the beautiful love song made popular in Ireland back in the sixties by Dickie Rock. It was a big hit for Dickie and the Miami showband when it was released as a single in 1964.
Dickie died at the age of 88 on Friday December 6, last year. The following morning RTE’s Lilian Smith played a version of Candy Store on Rising Time that I hadn’t heard before; it had a simple piano accompaniment and was beautiful.

Like most of the showbands in the sixties Dickie and the Miami had great success recording songs which were originally big hits in the USA.
Candy Store on the Corner was written by Bill Hilliard and recorded by Tony Bennett and Lois Winter on the Columbia label in 1956. It peaked at No. 11 in the Billboard charts in August 1956 and stayed in the charts for 12 weeks. Dickie was a big fan of Tony Bennett and it was no surprise that he recorded one of Bennett’s hits.

That was Dickie’s third single to reach Number One in the Irish charts having already been successful with There’s Always Me and I’m Yours.

Richard Rock was born in the Rotunda Hospital and the family lived in the North Strand area before they were allocated a Dublin Corporation House at 66 Dingle Road, Cabra. He was the eldest child of Joseph and Julia Rock and had four siblings: Lillian, Margery, Brian and Joseph.

His fraternal great-grandfather was a clockmaker who immigrated from Germany to Ireland and his father was a blacksmith with the Board of Works. Joseph, who hailed from Donnycarney, also boxed for the St Andrew’s

Boxing club in York Street on the south side of the Dublin. He won the Irish featherweight title and represented his country at the National Stadium and in the Ulster Hall, Belfast.

In his book ‘Always Me’, written by Tony McCullagh in 2007, Dickie said: ‘‘My memories of my father are just wonderful. He would bring me to Dalymount Park and Tolka Park to watch soccer games. I also remember spending hours in the Phoenix Park with him picking chestnuts.’’

Dickie’s first school was the Dominican Convent in Cabra West and later St Finbarr’s where his mother encouraged him to join the choir as he didn’t really like school. He later joined a variety group called the Casino Players and that decision ultimately helped him become a professional singer.

He later attended the Vocational School in Cabra, but only spent about a year there and left school at the of 15 when he got a job at Edward’s Jewellers on Talbot Street. After a year with the jewellers Dickie moved to the docks where he started as an apprentice welder, but he moved on again, this time to Santry where he worked for a company called Milners, who made gates. Later he spent an unhappy 12 months in Manchester serving his apprenticeship.

However, the experience gained in England led to a job in Unidare in Finglas. In Unidare another young welder Gerry Hayes asked Dickie to join his group the Melochords who were looking for a singer and Dickie replaced Butch Moore as their lead singer. When the Melochords broke up Dickie formed his own band The Echoes.

Later, Tony Bogan a friend from Cabra, who was a drummer with the Miami Showband, asked Dickie to come out and see them play at Palm Beach in Portmarnock. Dickie was impressed and asked their manager Tom Doherty if he would manage his group; instead Doherty invited Dickie to join the Miami, which he did in April 1962 and the rest as they say is history.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own