TRIBUTES have been paid to one of Newry’s best-known characters.
Gabby Curran (63) passed away at his home on Thursday after a short illness.
The father-of-five was known to music lovers across the north and was also a regular contributor to radio phone-in programmes.
His brother Brendan, a former Newry councillor, described him as a “colourful character”.
“Gabby loved life and always had a plan or a scheme coming around the corner,” he said. “He was a music fanatic.
“This man shocked people with his knowledge, he was in a league of his own.”
A fan of the showband era, Gabby made many friends in the scene and attended the 40th anniversary of the Miami Showband massacre last year.
“He could not play a note but made up for it in his absolute genius and the facts he knew,” Mr Curran said.
He combined his love for music with his interest in radio through Newry Community Radio.
A DJ, he was also involved in several pirate radio stations around the border in the past.
The community activist was involved in the civil rights movement from an early age and was “active in the republican movement in the early 1970s”, his brother added.
After a spell working in England he developed a love of lorries and drove a truck for a living for many years.
“He was the first in Ireland to drive a big American truck,” said Mr Curran.
“Every driver in Ireland came to see it in their fascination.
“Nobody else had seen anything like this before.”
Mr Curran said other interests included collecting autographs and over the years he became a friend to the stars.
“He knew Maureen O’Hara and was a regular visitor to her house in Cork,” he said.
“He bought old posters off the internet and got her to sign them.
“He was hoping to get a ransom for them and now they festoon the walls of his house.”
Mr Curran said his brother “knew everybody in Newry and he knew everything about them” and his loss will be sorely felt.
“He was the life and soul at wakes and he will be sadly missed at his own."
Mr Curran will be buried in St Mary’s Cemetery on Saturday after Requiem Mass at Newry Cathedral.
