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About Bob

Bob was born in Derry, Northern Ireland as one of 7 children - 3 girls and 4 boys. Bob's singing career started at the very early age of 5 when he joined the choir of his local Chapel. He spent the first 15 years of his life in Derry while his Dad worked as a coal merchant and continued to sing in the Chapel choir. The family then moved to Coventry, England where Bob's Dad was now managing his own public house and Bob has spent his life up to the present day living in Coventry.

Serving an apprenticeship at Morris Motors, Coventry Bob qualified as an engineer and after leaving, he worked in a number of different jobs. Some of these were:

• Manager of a shoe shop
• Beer taster for Bass Breweries (a teetotal beer taster - can you believe it?!)
• Managing his Dad's pub
• Semi-professional footballer

One evening when the band booked to play in his Dad's pub failed to turn up, Bob took up the microphone and sang for the evening accompanied by just a pianist. This gave him a taste of the stage spot lights. Eventually, Bob turned to the music industry and formed his own band called Calvary with himself as the lead singer. Starting as a group of 4 lads and 2 girls, they performed throughout Europe as one of the top Show Groups. For many years, they were Bass Brewery's No. 1 promotion band. During this time, the band's line-up changed several times and also, Bob met up with Len Faulconbridge who was to become a very good friend and Bob's manager.

In the middle of the 1980's, Bob was invited by the Managing Director of Mercia Sound radio to present an Irish radio program on the award winning Mercia FM station and "Come into the Parlour" was born. After winning a number of awards and many happy years at Mercia, Bob was then asked to join Radio WM in the Midlands. Based at Pebble Mill, Birmingham for the last 4 years, Bob has presented several of the mid-week slots and is still presenting his Irish show every weekend in his own inimitable Irish way where the 'craic' is always 90!! The times and radio frequencies of his latest broadcast can be found on the Radio & Gig Guide page.

Because of his successful radio shows with an easy listening style, Bob's manager, Len, suggested that he should record an album of his favourite easy listening songs. Hence Bob's "Calvary" album was recorded in Moate, Ireland at Roseland Studios which are owned by Foster and Allen. The album was produced by Ray Lynam, one of Irelands top producers. This album was an instant success and Bob was immediately invited back to Ireland to tour and appear on Irish TV.

Unfortunately, shortly after this, Bob's younger brother, Paul, broke his neck and became paralysed from the neck down. Paul is now living with Bob at his home in Coventry which Bob has had completely modified to accommodate Paul's needs. Now that Paul has adapted to his life style, Bob is able to carry on concentrating on re-establishing his own career and has successfully recorded further albums and videos.

Over the years, Bob has performed on stage with many of the top Irish artists including Daniel O'Donnell, Joe Dolan, Dominic Kirwan, The Fureys, Foster and Allen and Brendan Shine. In February 2001, Bob was chosen by 'The Irish World' as the "Irish Radio Personality of The Year" putting him alongside previous winners such as Terry Wogan and Gloria Hunniford. Coinciding with this award, Bob began presenting his week day radio show for BBC across Coventry and Warwickshire every Monday to Friday and Sundays.

Despite a busy schedule, Bob has always found time to support many, many charities, mainly those for children. Over the years, Bob has raised more than a quarter of a million pounds and still growing.

In 1999, Bob organised his first major charity show called "Bob Brolly and Friends" and featured Irish artists such as Brendan Shine, Foster and Allen and Barry McGuiggan. This show was in support of The Omagh Victim Support Fund and Leukemia Research. The following year, Bob organised a second major charity show called "Bob Brolly and Friends Again" in aid of DEBRA in The Fireside Centre, Birmingham. The show once again featured The Fureys, Brendan Shine, Larry Cunningham and Frank McCaffrey.

In 2001, Bob organised his 3rd major charity show called "Bob Brolly and Friends - 2001", featuring Daniel O'Donnell, Kathy Durkin and Oliver Barrett. The event was in aid of The Romanian Challenge Appeal and raised well over £35,000. During the same year, Bob became involved with Dee and Chris Roddis in helping Dee achieve her ambition to raise £5,000 for the Oncology Unit at Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry. With Bob's support, Dee more than achieved her ambition raising money to a final total of more than £17,000.

In recognition of his contribution to Coventry, particularly in raising money for charity, Bob was named "Coventry's Citizen Of The Month - October 2001". In November of the same year, Bob was presented with a special Papal Certificate together with a special blessing from the Pope. Both were in recognition of Bob's devoted services to charity.

In the 2003 New Year Honours list, Bob was awarded the MBE for his services to radio broadcasting and to charity. This was in recognition of his highly successful Irish radio programme which had been running for 12 years and for his commitment to raising funds for charities, both local and national.

Bob's latest major charity show Brolly and Friends has been staged at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and have done so for the past 4 years featuring a whole host of guests including; Dominic Kirwan, Brendan and Emily Shine, John McDermott,
Frank McCaffery, Jimmy Buckley, Wylde Green, Lorretta O'Sullivan, Charlie Landsborough, Fergal Flaherty, Richie Kavanagh, Mary Duff, Ged Roberts and Chris Kamara to name but a few...

Every sell-out concert has raised a fantastic amount of funds for charities including The Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital, The Spinal Injuries Research Programme, Young Carers as well as 2005's Breast Cancer Research. This year, Bob hopes that Brolly and Friends 2008 will be just as successful as his previous shows to date.