Evening Herald, August 31, 1972
Ryan's Fancy are from left - Fergus O'Byrne, Denis Ryan, and Dermot O'Reilly.
Ryan's Fancy...From Tipp. to MaritimesRyan’s Fancy is their collective name... and the Ryan among them is Denis from Newport, Co. Tipperary. They are still another Canadian-Irish folk singing group, though, for once, they do not work out of the Ontario capital of Toronto where so many similar acts appear to be thriving.
Ryan’s Fancy are from Saint John’s, Newfoundland, and the three boys, Denis Ryan, Fergus O’Byrne and Dermot O’Reilly, both from Dublin, are students now at Memorial University.
"STREETS OF LONDON"
They are a few years in Canada and have played with other groups in the Toronto area - they were the nucleus of the original Sullivan’s Gypsies - but eventually they headed east to the Maritimes where they love the people - something which is returned generously, they hold - and the climate... of all things! It’s pretty cols out there for at least six months of the year.
The three are home in Ireland for a month - they were at the Fleadh Ceoil last weekend - ostensibly as a celebration for getting to the No. 1 on the Canadian East coast with Ralph McTell’s much recorded "Streets of London".
On this side of the Atlantic CBS record will be releasing two of their albums of Irish and Newfoundland folksongs.
Before they came home they taped three TV shows for CBC in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with Tommy Makem as their guest. He staggered them with his "good manners and modesty". Said Denis: "I mean to say he was up there with the biggest when we were in an audience, and now here he was, the nicest guy you could have on a show."
Dermot O'Reilly
Denis Ryan
Fergus O'Byrne