Renowned Cork singer Seán Ó Sé dies aged 89

Seán Ó Sé. File picture: Denis Minihane

The death has occurred of renowned Cork singer, educator and raconteur Seán Ó Sé, who has died three days shy of his 90th birthday.

He was a native of Ballylickey, which he described as “three miles outside Bantry to the west, on the Glengarrif Road, the most easterly inlet in Bantry Bay”.

He was known affectionately as “de Pucker” or “An Pocar”, a play on the song An Poc Ar Buile, which he made famous in a surprise 1962 hit single.

Educated at Coláiste Íosagáin, Ballyvourney, and St Patrick's College, Dublin, he worked as a primary school teacher in counties Wicklow and Cork, finishing his career as principal of St Mary’s on the Hill in Knocknaheeny, Cork city.

A gifted tenor, he came to prominence as a singer in the 1960s with Seán Ó Riada's group Ceoltóirí Chualann, and he went on to tour internationally with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

His natural gift for storytelling and his unique style of speaking, which was a fluent and melodious blending of both Irish and English words and phrases, made him a worthy successor to the seanchaís of old.

Growing up in an all-Irish-speaking home, he didn’t utter his first word of English until he went to school at the age of six.

“My mother was a native Irish speaker from Ballingeary and my father’s people Gaelic leaguers from Adrigole with ‘learned-Irish’,” he told The Echo last year.

“I live in an English-speaking part of the country now. However, if I go to any Gaeltacht area, the Irish comes back immediately. And I love that.” 

Steeped in history, local, national and international, he loved the land and the sport and the people of his native Ireland, and the Cork he loved above all other places.

Predeceased last year by his wife Eileen, Mr Ó Sé is survived by their children Áine, Con and Íde.