DAVE'S DIARY - 3 JANUARY 2005 - LOUIS MCMANUS RIP

LOUIS MCMANUS 48 RIP

Glaswegian born multi-instrumentalist Louis McManus Jr died at 48 on December 12, 2004, after a long battle with diabetes.

McManus suffered the first of a series of strokes at 41 in 1997.

The strokes deprived the popular musician of his greatest talent - music.

Louis was known as "one take McManus" for his studio brilliance on recordings by artists diverse as The Bushwackers, Shane Howard and many Celtic bands.

Louis was born in 1956 into a musical family - parents, Norah and Louis McManus (Louis Sr) were of Catholic Irish stock. Louis' grandfather Owen was born in Tyrone but had settled in Glasgow.

The family migrated to Australia in 1962 and settled in Werribee, west of Melbourne.
Louis Sr, a fiddle player, gave his son a mandolin when he was five.

By the time he was eight, Louis Sr said, "There was nothing more I could teach him."
Under his dad's tutelage he was soon acclaimed as child prodigy.

Louis became one of the world's most brilliant players of the mandolin, tenor banjo and acoustic guitar.

He was in big demand on sessions and wrote music for shows and film, and played electric guitar in urban Aboriginal rock groups that he joined or formed after meeting Maxine Briggs, an Aboriginal woman who was to become his wife.

Louis performed with The Bushwackers from the mid seventies and was a member of diverse Celtic bands until his first stroke.

For info about Louis's career and recording please visit Steve Jones comprehensive web page - www.louismcmanus.com

Condolences may be sent to his widow, Max McManus, and his parents, Louis Snr and Norah McManus, at the following address:

P.O. Box 866
Castlemaine, Victoria 3450


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