Death announced of Cork music legend Cathal Coughlan
Cathal Coughlan has passed away at the age of 61.
The death has been announced of Cork music figure Cathal Coughlan, the lead singer of such bands as Microdisney and Fatima Mansions. A statement from the 61-year-old’s family released today, Monday, said Coughlan had passed away on May 18. “He slipped away peacefully in hospital after a long illness.”
A stalwart of a thriving post-punk scene in Cork in the early 1980s that was based around the Arcadia ballroom, Coughlan rose to prominence with Microdisney, a band he formed with Luton immigrant Sean O’Hagan.
Broadcaster and singer Tom Dunne was among those paying tribute to Coughlan after the announcement of his death. “The brightest star of our generation, a giant with a great voice and a perfect eye for what it was to be Irish in the UK in the 1980s,” said Dunne. “He achieved, with Sean, vastly more that anyone could have hoped. The Clock Comes Down the Stairs is a masterpiece.”
From Glounthaune in East Cork, Coughlan was a former student of Presentation Brothers secondary school in Cork city, and University College Cork.
Like many of his peers of the era, Coughlan moved from his native county to London, a base from where Microdisney achieved moderate success. Difficult to pigeon-hole, the band’s unique combination of Coughlan’s often-acerbic lyrics and O’Hagan’s sunny guitar licks meant they didn’t quite fit with the wider trends of the times.
They recorded several albums on the Rough Trade and Virgin labels, and after that band’s split in 1988, Coughlan formed the harder-sounding Fatima Mansions, named after the Dublin flat complex.
Among that band's moments was a support slot to U2 on the Zoo TV tour, including an appearance in Milan where Coughlan courted controversy with his interactions with a statue of the Blessed Virgin he had brought on stage.
Often engaged on politics and social issues, Coughlan’s CV includes an Apartheid-era album entitled We Hate You South African Bastards, references to Romania’s dictator on Blues for Ceausescu, and a tune railing against Margaret Thatcher’s values in Only Losers Take The Bus.
Among the other figures in the music world paying tribute to Coughlan on social media was Tracey Thorn of English band Everything But The Girl, who quoted Microdisney song The Helicopter of the Holy Ghost.
“Sad to hear of the death of Cathal Coughlan," Thorn wrote on Twitter. "There are lines of songs that stay in your head and for some reason ‘Put that suitcase down before you answer me’ has always stayed in mine.”
Tim Burgess of The Charlatans wrote: “Cathal Coughlan, music genius, has left this realm. His brilliant songs remain. Play them loud and remember him.”
Numerous other projects followed after the disbandment of Fatima Mansions, and Microdisney even reunited for a brief period, reviving their 1985 classic The Clock Comes Down The Stairs album at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and the Barbican in London. Somewhat fittingly, the band’s final gig was at Cyprus Avenue in Cork in February 2019.
In recent years, Coughlan had been quite prolific in his output, with a solo album, Song Of Co-Aklan, receiving widespread acclaim in 2020, as did a surreal collaboration in 2021 with US-based Irish producer Jacknife Lee, under the Telefís moniker.
Coughlan leaves behind his wife, Julie. The family statement said a memorial ceremony would be held amongst close friends and family in the near future.
