The winner of the Cork Person(s) of the Year will be announced on January 27th at the 30th Gala Awards Lunch at the Rochestown Park Hotel, and there will be major interest in North Cork, as one of the nominees is tenor Kevin Owens from Charleville.
88-year-old Kevin is one of Charleville’s most famous and best-loved singers, having begun his singing career at a young age in school plays with the local C.B.S. and St. Colman’s Players Dramatic Society. Over the years he won many awards at Féis Ceoil competitions, including the most prestigious John McCormack Cup, and in the mid-1970s he collaborated with famed musician and composer Bernard Geary on a record which included the songs ‘Dear Old Charleville’, ‘The Meeting of the Waters’, and ‘Over Here’.
Kevin sang for many years as a soloist in Holy Cross Church, dating back to 1952, and he continues to be involved in choral and church choirs today. In 1994 he was presented with the Benemerenti Medal for his services to church choirs and song.
Kevin was also recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Artane Boys Band at a function in Dublin, having toured America as a featured singer with the band, and was also the first singer to sing at Croke Park during All-Ireland Finals. He also released a number of albums with the band, including a recording of his local anthem, ‘Dear Old Charleville’. For many years, he was top-of-the-bill at hundreds of concerts across Ireland, and he was much in demand for fundraising concerts for many charitable organisations, voluntary groups and the church.