Foster and Allen mark 50 years in the music business

Foster and Allen, one of the country's best known bands, are marking 50 years in the music business.

The midlands duo of Mick Foster and Tony Allen started out in 1975 and rose to national and international fame.

"We're 50 years as Foster and Allen but we started playing together in 1967," Mr Foster explained.

"We were in a local band and we did that for a few years," he said.

"It took me seven years to convince Tony to join me as a duo, that was in 1975," he added.

The rest, as they say, is history and Foster and Allen went on to become one of Ireland's most successful musical exports, performing traditional Irish music around the world.

Tony Allen said they had a couple of great breaks early on.

"Every village in Ireland had a decent cabaret lounge then, so there was loads and loads of work," said Mr Allen.

"Then we met up with Donie Cassidy of CMR Records and we released 'The Ramblers of Spring', which got a huge amount of radio play.

"Then we brought out 'A Bunch of Thyme' and it went to number one in the charts, so that was a huge start," he added.

In 1982, 'A Bunch of Thyme' reached number 17 in the British charts and the duo were asked to appear on Top of the Pops.

While on Top of the Pops, they wore green 18th century clothes. Everyone thought they were dressed as leprechauns.

"The late Jimmy McGee said to us, it doesn't matter how good you are, you have to be different, so we got these clothes made and we wore them from 1975 on," Mr Foster said.

"In 1982 then we were going on a tour of America, around St Patrick's Day and in our wisdom, we decided to get them made in green for that.

"But while we were there, Top of the Pops came up, and we had to fly from America to London and the only clothes we had were the ones made up in green."

The media thought we had dressed up specially as leprechauns, he said.

"We got more coverage for the suits, than we did for the music" laughed Tony Allen.

The band's success continued from there, with songs like 'Maggie', 'After All These Years' and 'Old Flames' all going into the charts.

In their 50 years together, Foster and Allen have sold more than 20 million records worldwide and recorded more than 1,000 songs, appealing in particular to Irish living abroad.

"We did 20 trips to Australia, 15 to New Zealand, several to South Africa, America and Canada," said Mr Foster.

The band said down though the years, they always recorded songs they enjoyed playing and singing.

"We've been very lucky musically, we've had a lot of good songs written for us, and old songs that we picked up and re-recorded," he said.

"We never record anything we don't like, so whatever we've recorded, we enjoy playing it."

After Christmas, Foster and Allen will embark on a tour of Ireland and the UK, still as enthusiastic now, as they were 50 years ago.

"When you start the 'Bunch of Thyme' or 'After All These Years' and you get that audience reaction, it's the same as if you're only doing it for the first time," said Mr Foster.

Mr Allen said that there is a new generation of people coming to see them play.

"You get grandkids of people who used to come to listen to us in the 70s and 80s and maybe now they are bringing their grandparents with them, so it's great to see them tuning into the music."

Despite the passage of time, Foster and Allen are showing no signs of slowing down.

"The plan is that we will keep going until one of us kicks the bucket, and then the other fellow will have one great year on his own," laughed Mr Foster.

It is that humour and entertainment, that keeps the crowds coming through the doors.

"It has to be light hearted, people come out for the night. They want to be entertained, not educated," Mr Foster laughs.