ONE of Belfast's best known musicians has been described as "the most unique character in the entertainment business in Northern Ireland" following his death earlier this week.
Marty Lundy, who fronted Katmandu, died peacefully in his sleep at his east Belfast home on Tuesday. He was 68.
The son of well-known fiddle player Arthur Lundy, Marty joined the entertainment business at the age of 11 along with his cousin, Tommy.
Having formed a band, the pair performed at various school gigs, transporting their equipment in an old pram.
In the years that followed, Marty became a prolific musician playing with a number of bands throughout the seventies, during the Troubles and up to present day.
However, he was best known for his colourful performances as the frontman of Katmandu, which played gigs in bars and clubs around Belfast and beyond.
His last gig was at The Empire Music Hall in Belfast on March 9, which raised £10,000 for Marie Curie.
While the band had many other projects planned, these were put on hold due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Speaking to the Irish News, Aidan Devlin, a close friend and colleague of Marty Lundy's for the past 45 years, said the singer was "very unique".
"He loved what he did," he said.
"He loved being on stage. He lived for it. He was always a man you couldn't second guess. Even if you had rehearsed, that could change in a second.
"He graced the stage with many local, national and international people and they all found him to be intriguing in respect of his approach. They admired him greatly."
While he said his friend would be laid to rest in a family plot in Ballygalget, Co Down tomorrow, Mr Devlin said the singer's life would be fully celebrated when the Covid-19 crisis had ended.
"We will stage the mother of all send-offs whenever we are allowed because my phone has been going all night and day with artists from all over the place from as far as Austria and America, ringing to see when we can give him the send-off," he said.
The Belfast man also revealed that Katmandu would continue on.
"If nothing else else, in future, we will play in his honour. We were a band for so many years, we are a family and we have been his second family for all this time and we have looked after each other."
DJ Johnny Hero also paid tribute describing Marty as a "genius".
"People used to go to see what Marty would get up to next," he said.
"He would run around with the radio mic. He was a brilliant singer and musician, a great interpreter of songs. He was very intelligent and really funny.
The DJ added: "Nobody can believe it. He was one of those characters we thought would be around forever."
Donal O'Connor, founder of trad band, Ulaidh, said Marty Lundy was an "icon of the music scene in Belfast and Ireland".
"I was fortunate to join him and Katmandu on stage a couple of times and he was without doubt one of the best showmen I ever saw," he said.
"I enjoyed the chats we’d have about music and he had a great interest in the fiddle as his father Arty was a fiddler. I’m sure we’ll never see the likes of Marty again. An absolute legend."
Belfast musician Joby Fox said the Katmandu singer was a "kind person and a great entertainer".
"I’m really feeling it for his old band mates in Kathmandu. He was like the king of the music scene here - all roads led to Marty," he said.
