Joe Dolan

Mullingar birthplace of Joe Dolan, the Roaring Hyena whose high tenor and stage energy made Irish showbands unforgettable from the 1960s to the 1990s. A marquee talent show on the Fair Green gave that small town its first loud music lesson, and a newspaper compositor's guitar turned into national charts. The place still carries his voice because childhood loss, family pressure and public joy met there before the world heard them.