14-05-2025
Hugh Scully RIP - a Dublin music legend remembered
DJ and photographer Aidan Kelly remembers his friend, fellow DJ and music promoter Hugh Scully, who has died following a brief illness.
For 30 years, Hugh was a fixture on Dublin's music scene, most recently as director of vinyl records manufacturer Dublin Vinyl and The Record Hub.
To think of Hugh Scully as anything but Inspiring and one of my heroes would be amiss; he was one of those great individuals you genuinely wanted to run into, always working on something extraordinary. You just wanted to offer whatever support you could,
You would find yourself as enthusiastic as he was about simple pieces of music, or grandiose ideas of owning a radio station, maybe even a vinyl record plant on the Northside of Dublin. He was the best 'people' person in the music business - in any business - and better again, he was also a brilliant DJ.
Hugh was industrious, relentlessly working on what felt like projects that helped us all, our culture, inspirational as an organizer. He would be that charmer who knew the person you're looking for, had this insanely beautiful head of hair and a boyish look that disarmed everyone. That smile made me jealous, to the point of thinking, could I be more like him? And maybe get to be a better person?
Of all places, we met in the Abbey Mall where he was selling bootleg cassettes. I was selling Stussy and Levis. We traded music, we talked over each other and I found it easy to make him laugh. Even then in the mid 90's, he for me was the future of music in Dublin, that idea of culture in a small city powered by great individuals such as himself. It was the way he talked about it all.
One story sums him up. When U2 asked for Dublin Vinyl to handle their re-release of their Three EP, he personally flew to New York to bring home the original master vinyl stampers that would recreate the recordings. It was this ability, to never see you stuck for anything and the lengths he would go to for people, that won him hearts and clients who then became his friends.
He brought people together, He brought us into a culture of music and storytelling without even trying. Now more than ever we will miss him for that. He did it with such charm and panache, a real style that left you a foot off the ground with feeling.
Hugh Scully is already so missed by all of us who saw him as a beacon.
Publisher, restauranteur, broadcaster and DJ, an amazing Dad and yes, a renaissance man.
