Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Hard to believe that its 15 years since The Commitments, a film adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel, hit the silver screen. Directed by Alan Parker, The Commitments told the story of a group of people from the northside of Dublin city who come together to form a soul band. The film, charts the beginnings and endings of the band. We follow the misadventures of the individual band members, their comings and goings, their dreams and aspirations.
Both the dialogue and strong soul soundtrack propel the film through the bleak pre-celtic tiger Dublin of the early 1990's. The two soundtrack albums have together sold in excess of 10 million copies worldwide.
A recent newspaper article asked the question "The Commitments, Where are they now?". The article tracked down the actors who comprised the group. Some like Andrew Strong, who starred as lead vocalist Declan Cuffe, and Felim Gormley (Dean Fay) remained in the music industry. Glen Hansard (Outspan) is lead singer in the Frames. Michael Ahern (Steven Clifford) like the character he portrayed, left the entertainment industry and took up a regular job. Johnny Murphy (Joey "The Lips" Fagan), Angelina Ball (Imelda Quirke) and Bronagh Gallagher (Bernie McGloughlin) all have successful careers in the acting or music professions.
Kenneth McClosky (Derek Scully), Dick Massey (Billy Moody) and Dave Finnegan (Micka Wallace) at some stage played in or are still playing in a soul band called The Commitments. Robert Arkins (Jimmy Rabbitte) the coolest manager any band could have, and the man, is still involved in the production side in the music industry. Finally Maria Doyle Kennedy (Natalie Murphy) former member of The Hot House Flowers, lead singer with The Black Velvet Band, solo artist, star of The General and numerous other productions on the large and small screens, set up her own recording company and is still undisputed queen of our heart.
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