Showband star says he only had eyes for one woman despite ‘sea of screaming girls'

Sunday World

25-07-2025

'She would then remind me in her well-spoken accent that 'if I ever catch you misbehaving, I will kill you.''
HE was one of the pin-up idols of the Miami Showband in the 1960s, leaving screaming female fans in his wake at ballrooms around the country.
Today, musician Des Lee looks back on those heady days in his autobiography, My Saxophone Saved My Life, and tells how he only had eyes for one woman.
Des, who survived the 'Miami Showband Massacre' when three of his band mates were murdered returning from a gig in the North in July 1975, also reveals that while the showband era in Ireland was a fun time for fans, it was often a cut-throat industry for those working in it.
He tells how the ballroom owners and band management raked in the cash as thousands flocked to the dance halls, while many of the stars and musicians were on an average wage.
In his book, Des reveals that one member of The Miami was sacked after seeking a pay rise – as a warning to the other musicians.
But back to the girl fans, Belfast-born Des insists that his head was never turned as he was besotted with his then Cork girlfriend, Brenda O'Driscoll, who later became his wife.
Des and Brenda on their wedding day
He says Brenda totally accepted his life on the road, despite the fact that it prevented them for seeing each other on a regular basis.
'Her understanding of the life I had chosen and all the inconvenience that went with it left me in no doubt that I had someone special in my life,' Des writes.
'The screaming girls at the gigs never bothered her
and she regularly joked, 'What the eye don't see, the heart don't feel.'
'She would then remind me in her well-spoken accent that 'if I ever catch you misbehaving, I will kill you.''
Lee, aka McAlea, had started out his working life as a salesman for a plumbing company before turning professional as a musician.
He recalls how he met Brenda on a blind date after moving to Cork to join a group called the Regal Showband.
'One night, Mick Ahearne, the lead guitarist in the band, sensed that all was not well with me. The enthusiasm I showed when I first arrived in Cork had lessened somewhat and Mick noticed that something in me had changed.
Des Lee
'Mick asked if I was alright. He said, 'You don't look very happy.' I told him I was homesick. Realising that perhaps what I needed was company to pass my precious free time away in Cork City, he suggested I might like to go
on a blind date. I thought, 'why not?'
'Mick knew a lady called Brenda O'Driscoll, from Anglesea Street in the city. She was 21 and was a dedicated fan of the Regal Showband.
'Brenda would regularly attend the band's gigs, although she had not gone to any shows I had played in at that stage.
'Mick had a chat with Brenda and clearly made a successful sales pitch on my behalf. He arranged for me to meet her outside the GPO in Cork, just off St Patrick's Street, on a Monday evening in the summer of 1965. Mick told me she would be driving a blue Ford Anglia, reg: TIF 151.'
The pair hit it off and their relationship began. 'Brenda and I met again and again and again. The more we met,
the more I could feel the relationship getting stronger. On my nights off, we would go to see other bands performing, such as the Dixies from Cork, Butch Moore and the Capitol Showband, Joe Dolan and the Drifters, and more.'
Performing in the Arcadia Ballroom in 1968
He played a gig the night before his wedding and afterwards the band gave him a pre-wedding night 'present.'
He writes: 'Unknown to me, the band had planned something I would never forget. They forced
me onto the floor, pulled down my pants, and, with a black marker pen, scribbled 'it's here Brenda,' with an arrow pointing towards my private parts. I couldn't believe it. The lads in the band were bursting
their sides laughing. It was all good fun and we all took it in the spirit it was meant.
The Miami Showband massacre.
'However, when I stood up, put my pants back on and recovered dignity, I had a slight problem to deal with it. The ink on my body wouldn't wash off.'
Their marriage stood the test of the trials and tribulations of life until Brenda's passing 36 years later from cancer.
Des told the Sunday World in recent years: 'In 36 years of marriage we never had one serious argument, and not many people can say that. I still talk to Brenda every day. I still believe she's part of my life.
'When I lost Brenda I hit the bottle. I was drinking far too much alcohol. I do believe that if I continued I would have killed myself. If the truth be known, I would say that I was an alcoholic and that is a tough thing to admit.
'When you are drinking a bottle of gin or a bottle of vodka every day you've got a big problem. Giving it up is one of the best decisions I ever made in life.'
DES Lee's autobiography, My Saxophone Saved My Life, will be published on July 27.