Country singer Brian Coll’s yodelling ‘mesmerised’ fans

His professional career started The Buckaroos in 1968 and went on for almost six decades. In 1969 The Buckaroos played to a packed Carnegie Hall in New York on a bill that included country superstars Johnny Cash and Buck Owens.

The County Tyrone star suffered a heart attack on Saturday in his hometown of Omagh.

News Letter country music columnist Billy Kennedy said: “Brian Coll had a very special yodelling voice which mesmerised his audiences when he first appeared on the scene in the late 1960s as a showband singer with his Buckaroos band.

“Yodelling is a natural talent for a singer and, in that field, Brian was the best that Ireland ever produced. Indeed, in my view, Brian was one of the few country and Irish singers who could have made it professionally on the Nashville scene.

“Brian had a great personality, was a bit of an extrovert with a positive outlook in life and, aside from his music, he loved motor bike racing. I am truly saddened by his death.”

Tributes were also paid by Hugo Duncan, Fr Brian Darcy, Mike Denver, Nathan Carter and Daniel O’Donnell.

The family home and funeral, at Sacred Heart Church, Omagh at 2pm today, will be strictly private. However it will be live streamed at http://www.drumraghparish.com/webcam.html

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