JAMES L. DOOLEY 1948 – 2025
Dear Friends,
It is with very heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of our beloved Jim – father, brother, uncle and long-time bandmate. He died peacefully at his home on August 8 surrounded by his family after a heroic battle with stage 4 colon cancer.
Jim was a supremely talented musician, superb vocalist, brilliant guitarist, arranger, and a prolific songwriter, poet, artist, nature photographer, husband and father. Jim formed the original Dooley musical group with his brothers in 1966 and the band has given many thousands of performances from then until this year. The popular group has been a Chicago institution for six decades. NPR radio has called them the longest continuously running band in the Chicago area after the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
He was born into a musical and artistic family. His grandfather, T.W. McMullin, performed Irish music hall ballads in the 1890s on Lake Michigan cruise ships and at Strening’s Saloon at 11th and Blue Island Avenue on the near southwest side of Chicago. Jim’s other grandfather, Tommy Dooley, was a popular fiddler from County Clare Ireland who settled in the Chicago area and was the first captain of Cicero’s fire department. Jim’s father, Thomas Dooley, was a photo engraver at the Chicago Tribune where he composed and set the colors for the Sunday comics. Avis McMullin Dooley, Jim’s mother, was a pastel portrait artist who had an art studio on Michigan Avenue in Chicago with her sister Marion in the 1930s. Avis also exhibited her artwork at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933-34 and later became an accomplished landscape artist.
Jim started out singing at home with his brothers, harmonizing and recording the popular doo-wop songs of the 1950s on a Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder that our father had given us on Christmas Day, 1956. Sometimes Jim and his brothers would hurry home from grammar school during the lunch hour to make these recordings. Appreciating all kinds of music, Jim and his brothers moved on to harmonizing barbershop quartet music and singing the songs of the Kingston Trio and many other folk music artists of the day. During his high school days, Jim fronted a rock band with some friends called “The Group Incorporated” playing the current ‘60s popular songs at local high school dances in the Oak Park area.
As he began his college years, in 1966 Jim, along with brothers Joe and Bill, founded the original Dooley musical group known at the time as “The Dooley Boys” and started playing at colleges and various coffeehouses and nightclubs in and around Chicago especially in the Old Town and Rush Street areas. A few years later, their youngest brother Mike joined the group and the four of them became known as “The Dooley Brothers.” This group would go on to play many thousands of performances in the ensuing decades.
In the 1970s and 1980s the band performed regularly at music clubs on Chicago’s north side including The Roxy, The Barbarossa, The Bulls, Wise Fools Pub, Orphans, Ratso’s, Holsteins, The Earl of Old Town, Somebody Else’s Troubles and (one of their favorites) The Kilkenny Castle Inn. One of the band’s mainstay nightclubs was FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, where the band played regularly from the club’s opening month in 1980 up to this past March, when the band played at the FitzGerald’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration for the 40th time. Another regular spot for the band was the Irish American Heritage Center where the band has done over five hundred appearances since the Center opened in 1985 all the way to the present year.
In between these club appearances there were myriad other shows: the brothers were featured on the Emmy Award winning television show “Nightclubbing” on PBS Channel 11; numerous radio appearances; King Richard’s Renaissance Faire in the 1970s; the house band for Marshall Field’s State Street Store at Christmas and for their other events in the 1980s; summers performing in the pubs of County Clare, Ireland while living at their cousin’s farm there, auditorium concerts, festivals, and community outdoor concerts.
As a performing band, the Dooleys have played continuously in the Chicago area and Midwest from 1966 to the present day. In more recent years some next generation Dooley family members joined the band, including Jim’s late son Jimmy who played with the band from 2015 through 2018. Mike’s son Mick joined up in 2015 and Jim’s daughter Claire started singing with the band in 2020.
The band has also recorded critically-acclaimed albums and CDs, including their vinyl album from 1983 entitled A Place in My Heart which features mostly Jim’s original compositions. Subsequent CDs are The Road to Lisdoonvarna, Glad Magic, Black Sunshine and a new album Jim and the band just completed recording, which will be released in the coming months.
Jim had many musical and varied influences. Some of them were The Kingston Trio, Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Donovan, Django Reinhardt, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Jim was one of those rare persons who was a naturally-talented musician. He was self-taught and never learned to read music. He would just play guitar and sing at home for hours and hours for the sheer pleasure of it. He could hear a song once and just sing it or play it right back on his guitar. He developed a unique guitar finger-picking technique that was all his own.
Jim simply loved to entertain people and bring a smile to their faces. He always said one of his favorite things about performing was connecting with and talking with all the folks who would come out to a show. When he performed at a show, he never gave less than 100 percent of everything he had, from start to finish, never paced himself or coasted through a show.
Jim was passionate about music and life and love. Over and above everything he loved his family the most: his wife Anna, his daughter Claire, his late son Jimmy, his parents Avis and Thomas, and his brothers Mike, Bill, Joe, Dennis and Tom. There are many others in the Dooley clan that he loved, nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law, uncles and aunts. And his many, many friends were important to him.
“The honor of my life has been performing with my Dad on stage, playing guitar with him at our house, and our voices harmonizing together. As our voices harmonized together, so did we.” – Claire
There will be a Celebration of Life service for Jim sometime this fall. Notification will be sent out.
Love,
The Dooleys
Claire, Mike and Mick
In February of this past year, Jim, Mike, Claire and Mick got together and recorded a video interview delving into the folklore of the band, their philosophy of music, as well as other anecdotes. That is now available to listen to on YouTube on the Dooley Band Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cag_Yh4mSmg&t=1s
New Album and Video Interview
The band is putting the finishing touches on our new album! It will be an extensive collection of songs we recently recorded and also some songs from the vast Dooley archive of music through the years. We will have it available very soon! In addition, Jim, Mike, Mick and Claire made a video interview earlier this year discussing band memories going back to childhood and up to the present, musical philosophies and our soon to be released album. We’ll let you know when everything is available!
William P. Dooley
Dear Friends,
It is with heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and longtime bandmate Bill Dooley. On Monday November 4th he died peacefully at his home surrounded by his family after a heroic battle with cancer.
Having been married for 55 years, Bill was a dedicated family man, and had five children and six grandchildren. He was also a superb singer, guitarist and songwriter, and an accomplished pastel artist.
As to the musical side of him, Bill started out singing at home with his brothers harmonizing and recording the popular doo-wop songs of the 1950s on a Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder that our father had given us one Christmas. Appreciating all kinds of music, Bill and his brothers moved on to harmonizing barbershop quartet music and singing the songs of the Kingston Trio and many other folk music artists of the day. As the sixties rolled on, Bill was particularly influenced by the songs and 12 string guitar playing of renowned folk musician, Bob Gibson. Bill would have the good fortune to befriend him and make music with him in the years to follow.
In 1967, Bill, along with brothers Joe and Jim, founded the original Dooley musical group known at the time as “The Dooley Boys”. They performed at colleges and various coffeehouses and nightclubs in and around Chicago especially in the Old Town and Rush Street areas. A few years later youngest brother Mike joined the group and the four of them became known as “The Dooley Brothers.” This aggregation would go on to perform at thousands of venues in the ensuing decades. Other Dooley family members joined the band in recent years including Bill’s nephew Mick and Bill’s niece Claire. Through all of those years Bill performed and recorded with the band until several years ago when he had to cut back due to health issues.
Bill had a beautiful singing voice on the lead vocal and also was particularly adept at figuring out and blending that tricky third vocal harmony part in the ensemble. His playing on the 6-string and 12-string guitars was always solid and he had a unique finger-picking style all his own. A prolific songwriter on varied subjects, his most requested song was “Black Sunshine”, a whimsical tune extolling the virtues of espresso coffee.
Bill was of course a talented musician but most of all of all we remember our brother Bill as a kind, compassionate and gentle soul who has always been an inspiration to us about how to live our lives well.
God bless you Bill and thank you for all you gave us.
The Dooleys
Jim, Mike, Mick & Claire
There are numerous photos of Bill from childhood up to recent times on our website in the Archives section.
If you would like to listen to some songs featuring Bill, click on the links for Spotify and You Tube
on the home page of our website. http://www.dooleybrothers.com
On Spotify:
Black Sunshine (original song written by Bill)
So Do I
On You Tube:
I Remember You
Chilly Winds
March Appearances
It’s always gratifying this time of year to turn the calendar page from February to March in anticipation of the milder weather on the way. Plus we have our traditional St. Patrick’s Month public appearances coming up: Goldyburgers in Forest Park on Saturday March 2 (7:30pm); FitzGerald’s St. Patrick’s Fest in Berwyn on Saturday March 16 (5:00pm); and the St. Patrick’s Day Fest at the Irish American Heritage Center on the northwest side of Chicago on Sunday March 17 (4:30pm). We’ve been playing at these three venues virtually every March since the early 1980s and it’s always a blast! Check out the Schedule section on this website for all of the details.
Read MoreSaturday February 3 at IAHC
We’re all going a little stir crazy in the middle of these winter doldrums, right? There will be music, merriment and laughter this coming Saturday February 3 at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub! (Please note: the previously scheduled date of February 17 has been reset to February 3.) It’s a perfect casual place for family and friends to get together. The Fifth Province Pub serves food and your favorite beverages and of course there is no cover charge. There’s plenty of free parking in the big lots right next to the building too! It’ll be a great way to dispel some of that cabin fever! Music will get underway at 8:00 p.m.
Happy New Year to you!
We sincerely hope that the beginning of this new year finds you in good health and good spirits and that you have enjoyed quality time with family and friends throughout the recent holidays.
Over this past year it was wonderful to see so many of you at our performances at clubs, festivals, libraries and various outdoor shows. There were lots of memorable and fun times at our regular venues such as the Irish American Heritage Center, Goldyburgers and FitzGerald’s. Then among the many concerts were the Brookfield Street Festival, the River Forest Public Library, the Long Grove Irish Fest, and Dominican University (where the concert was moved indoors to their auditorium because it was 100 degrees outside on that sweltering day in August!)
The band is excited for what this new year will bring! During the month of January we will be in the recording studio doing more songs for our new album which is planned for be release in the months ahead.
We do appreciate your coming out to our live shows and expect to be doing more of the same during the coming year! Our next appearance at the IAHC Fifth Province Pub is Saturday February 10. And we are scheduled to be back at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn for their annual St. Patrick’s Celebration on Saturday March 16! Many more show dates are on the way too!
As always, please know how grateful we are for your continued support and friendship over the past five decades and we look forward to sharing our music with you for years to come! You are the biggest reason why we sing! Thank you!
Our best wishes to you for a happy and healthy 2024!
The Dooleys – Jim, Mike, Mick and Claire
June concerts
Here we go. Summer at last! . . . On June 10 we’ll kick off our summertime concert season at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub (8pm) . . . June 17 it’s the Deerfield Farmer’s Market (9:30am) . . . June 24 we’ll be onstage in Brookfield for their street festival called “Music on Grand” (4:30 pm) . . . And peeking ahead, on July 5 we’re at the Dominican University “Summer Concert on the Quad” in River Forest (7pm) . . . Check out all of the details in the Schedule Section of this website. Hope to see you all this summer!
Read MoreMarch Activities
It’s always a most welcome time of the year as the calendar turns over to March and we launch into our “St. Patrick’s Month” of performances. On Saturday night March 4 we’ll be at Goldy’s in Forest Park, where we’ve been playing practically every year in March going all the way back to 1980 . . . . Friday March 17, St. Patrick’s Day itself, takes us to the Irish American Heritage Center. Lots of activities going on at the Center that day, and our show will run from 6:30 – 8:15 that evening . . . . The following day, Saturday March 18, the band will be back once again at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, for our 38th year at their annual St. Patrick’s festivities. The band will be on stage at FitzGerald’s that day from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. . . . . For further details on these public performances check out the Schedule section on this website. So, we hope to see you at one of these venues or perhaps even at one of the many private luncheons and shows we’ll be doing!
A Happy St. Patrick’s Month and a Happy Spring to one and all!