The Bachelors were a

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

group from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, but based primarily in the United Kingdom. They had several international hits during the 1960s, including eight top-ten singles in the UK between 1963 and 1966. The Bachelors split in 1984.

Career

The founding members of the group were Conleth (Con) Cluskey (18 November 1935 – 8 April 2022), his younger brother Declan (Dec) Cluskey (born 23 December 1941) and their friend John Stokes (Sean James Stokes) (born 13 August 1936). They formed their first band together in 1957: "The Harmonichords" (also seen as "The Harmony Chords"), a classically styled

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

harmonica-act. As the Harmonichords, they appeared on Hughie Green's ''Opportunity Knocks'' on

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

and on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' St. Patrick's Day special (filmed in Dublin, broadcast 15 March 1959), in which they played " Danny Boy".Kilmainham & Inchicore Local Dictionary of Biography They also played background music plus featured pieces in a 25-week radio comedy series called ''Odd Noises'' on Radio Éireann, which featured Eamonn Andrews. In 1960, they changed their name to the Bachelors at the suggestion of Dick Rowe, A&R at

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, who reportedly recommended the name "because that's the kind of boy a girl likes". During the 1960s, they had many successful songs in

music charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include ...

in Europe, Australia, South Africa, South America, USA and USSR. Among the most successful were: 1963 – "Charmaine", "Diane" (a UK no. 1 hit);'Con Cluskey obituary'
''The Times'', 22 April 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2025 1964 – " I Believe", "Ramona", " I Wouldn't Trade You for the World" (UK no. 2); 1965 – " Marie" (written by

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

), "In the Chapel in the Moonlight". In 1965 they also had the 'most played juke box track' with "The Stars Will Remember", from the film "It's all over town". Their last big hit in the UK was a cover of the

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

song " The Sound of Silence", which reached no. 3 in April 1966. Live work carried them into the 1970s with record-breaking theatre season shows. After a successful end to the 1960s with the album ''World of the Bachelors'' hitting the top 10 in 1968, the band became less and less dominant in the changing music industry. They remained successful recording artists and moved to the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

label, which contracted easy listening stars such as Val Doonican and

The New Seekers The New Seekers were a British pop group, formed in London, in 1969, by Keith Potger, after the break-up of his group, the Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music wou ...

. The group continued to play the cabaret circuit, maintaining the original line-up until 1984 when there was "a messy split" between the Cluskey brothers and Stokes. The Cluskeys removed Stokes from their business company, "Bachelors Ltd", then dismissed him from the group. Stokes took legal action and it was ruled that the "Bachelors" name belonged to all three men. Following this acrimonious parting of the ways, with the rift never being healed, the Cluskey brothers appeared as "The New Bachelors" and Stokes as "Stokes & Coe"; Stokes allegedly also then appeared as "The New Bachelors and the Cluskeys performed as "Con & Dec, The Bachelors". In 2008, a compilation CD ''I Believe – The Very Best of The Bachelors'' was released. Featuring the 1960s hits together with two new songs recorded by Con and Dec Cluskey, it was issued by Universal which had acquired the Decca catalogue. Available in the US as an import from the UK, it reached no. 7 in the UK album chart. Con and Dec Cluskey appeared on TV and radio to promote the album. Con Cluskey died on 8 April 2022, aged 86. He had been living in Elland,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, since 1970.

Film and television

In the 1960s, the Bachelors made guest appearances on TV and performed in two Royal Variety TV shows. In 1963, they starred in '' It's All Over Town'' with Frankie Vaughan and The Springfields. The following year they appeared on the TV show '' Sunday Night at the London Palladium'', then hosted by

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 75 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the Associated Te ...

: this episode achieved the largest viewing audience ever for this popular show. The Bachelors appeared in a film in 1964 called ''Just for You'' (known as ''Disk-o-Tek Holiday'' in the USA), with DJ Sam Costa. In 1965 they made '' I've Gotta Horse'' with

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he spent 332 weeks on the UK singles chart. His hit singles include " Wondrous Place", " H ...

. In 1971 they featured in a TV situation comedy series called '' Under and Over'', playing three Irish navvies working on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. Six episodes were broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. The group began 1970 by appearing on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's highly rated review of the 1960s' music scene '' Pop Go The Sixties'', performing "Charmaine" and "Diane" live on the show, which was broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

on 1 January 1970. In December 2016, Con and Dec appeared in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Skeg Vegas'', a one-off documentary following

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

' entertainment agent Noel Gee. In August 2017, Dec appeared as a contestant in

's ''Come Dine With Me''.

Songs

The Bachelors' version of "Charmaine", with its descending melody that had already made it an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

, jogs along to a country guitar strum and a sprinkling of piano licks. Dick Rowe chose American

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (August 11, 1937 – November 13, 2024) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger, best known for his work in England in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks, and many other artists. Talmy arranged and produced hits ...

as record producer, who went on to produce some of

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

' classic rock hits. Another 1927 movie theme song, "Diane"—penned by the same songwriters as "Charmaine", Erno Rapee and Lew Pollack, and arranged in the same Nashville-like manner, but produced by Michael Barclay—was released in 1964 and gave the group their biggest international hit, reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart, as well as an American breakthrough at number ten. Four of their hit songs ("Charmaine", "Ramona", "Marie" and "Diane") were taken from 1920s' films.

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

had also covered the first three of these in the 1950s.

Discography

References

Other sources

* Sean Helferty and Raymond Refausse. ''Directory of Irish Archives''. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1995.

External links

''Con & Dec – The Bachelors''
Con & Dec's Official UK web-site
The Bachelors featuring John Stokes
John Stokes' Official UK web-site

Con & Dec's version of the break-up and aftermath
YouTube: Original members performing 'Chapel in the Moonlight''Diane/I Believe'
'This Morning' July 2008 clip of 'Diane/I Believe' with Con and Dec * *
Complete history 1962 – 1984 with UK/USA Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bachelors, The British Invasion artists Beat groups Musical groups established in 1957 Musical groups disestablished in 2022 London Records artists Irish pop music groups Musical groups from Dublin (city) Irish musical trios 1957 establishments in Ireland 2022 disestablishments in Ireland 1950s in Irish music 1960s in Irish music 1970s in Irish music