Kevin Smith

Kevin Francis Smith (1950 - 2009) Rest In Peace Kevin passed away, suddenly, on August 9, 2009.  He performed for almost 40 years...first with his brother in resort hotels, cruise ships and nightclubs...then in top Irish Venues...nationally and abroad.  He worked with name acts like:  Tommy Makem, Black 47,  Paddy Reilly, Dublin City Ramblers, Cherish The Ladies...and many more.  Kevin was a featured member of the touring Derek Warfield Show (Wolfetones) with performances in major cities:  San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Windsor, Ontario, NYC and Boston.  Locally, he maintained regular weekly engagements at:  Lily Flannagan's, Babylon, NY, The Irish Cottage, Forest Hills, NY & Muldoon's, NYC.  A Personal Message On behalf of my brother's wife, Jo-Anne, and our entire family...I'd like to express sincere gratitude to all the fans and friends who have offered their boundless affection and support during this terrible time.  Kevin certainly had the need to sing the great rebel songs and folk ballads of Ireland. But, moreover, he had the need to connect, on a personal level, with those who came to hear him and who shared his love of this music.  Over the last 3 weeks I've heard a million Kevin stories...and told a few.  Each one describes his unique approach to living: His humor, kindness, passion, honesty, heroism and talent.  These tributes have been such a comfort to us as they so vividly portray a life well lived. He worked in Irish Pubs for 20 years and loved almost every minute of it.  Once or twice some random event or feckless bit player may have riled him up a tad but mostly, in the end, we laughed at it & they seem unimportant now.  What remains is a legacy of excellence and love and music which shall gloriously persist. To all of those who took his part.... thanks for looking out for my brother. Sincerely, Tom Smith Note:  Kevin's recordings:  The Highwayman, Alive @ Jackie Reilly's &        Best Of My Heart are available for purchase.  Please email for info.

Derek Warfield, the legendary Irish singer and founding member of the Wolfetones, was Kevin's friend.  They worked together on nationwide concert tours and:  it's true to say that Warfield & Tommy Makem were the key inspirations of my brother's professional life. Derek has generously offered to do a special show, in memory of Kevin, at Lily Flanagan's,  on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 9PM.  Please come out and join us at a World Class Irish Pub for a rousing night of song & story courtesy of one of the icons of Irish Rebel Music. Contact Lily Flanagan's or Tom Smith for info.  Thursday, March 4, 2010   *   Lily Flanagan's 345 Deer Park Avenue, Babylon NY   (631)539-0816 ADMISSION:  $20.         9PM SHOW

Kevin Smith  Memorial Celebrations Thanks aren't good enough to all those who made the Kevin Celebrations a huge success!  Our sincere appreciation to Lily Flanagans, McNulty's Irish Cottage and    all the fans, friends and benefactors who gave their time, talents, resources and love... We were overwhelmed by your generosity & support.

newsday.com Kevin Smith at the Irish Cottage, Forest Hills, NY Irish music performer Kevin Smith of Hicksville dies at 59 September 5, 2009 By LAUREN CIOFFI lauren.cioffi@newsday.com  　 Kevin Smith of Hicksville, who performed Irish music for decades, died recently. He was 59. Smith died Aug. 9 of a heart attack, shortly after singing at Lily Flanagan's Pub in Babylon. Born in Hicksville on May 23, 1950, to Irish-American parents - his mother was from Greenpoint and father from Flatbush - Smith attended St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay. Growing up in Hicksville he began working up his repertoire and participated as a drummer in the "Battle of the Bands," which drew competitors from around the area. "Every year we would come home and complain to our dad - 'the guy we lost to stinks and he wins every year. Of course he stinks - that’s why he wins every year - was my father’s reply and that guy was Billy Joel," his younger brother, Tom Smith of Bellmore, recalled Friday. After graduating in 1968, he attended the Marine Military Academy in Texas and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. His love for music led him back to Long Island, however, and he and his brother began performing together at resorts and hotels from Long Island to the Catskills in the late 1980s. "For 20 years he became a singer of the songs taught to him by his father," Smith said, adding his brother would sing and play guitar, while he played piano, accordion and sang. The brothers wrote songs together, said Smith, who did the arrangements with Kevin on vocals. They worked together on four albums. Later they went their own ways musically, Smith said, his brother following traditional and contemporary Irish music while he specialized in Frank Sinatra tunes.Kevin Smith began performing weekly at Lily Flanagan's and at The Irish Cottage in Forest Hills, Queens, almost 20 years ago. "You knew when he was here because you couldn't get through the door," said Kathleen McNulty of Long Beach, owner of The Irish Cottage. In 1996, Jo-Anne Kelly spotted him while he performed at a benefit at Paddy Reilly's bar in Manhattan. They married on June 27, 1999. "Even if he sang 'Itsy Bitsy Spider,' when he sang it, he sang it with passion," she said. Performing for benefits, funerals, christenings and weddings, Kevin Smith, an avid baseball fan, was "swinging for the fence," Tom Smith said, wholehearted in everything he did. The last wake he sang for was his own. Those in attendance Aug. 11 and 12 heard Smith's voice fill the room between each prayer as a recording played his songs. Smith was cremated after a funeral Mass celebrated at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Hicksville on Aug. 13. In addition to his wife and brother, Smith is survived by another brother, Gerry Smith of Miller Place, and a sister, Maureen Cox of Bethpage. There will be a benefit in his memory at Lily Flanagan's on Oct. 3 from noon to 4 p.m. Proceeds will benefit his wife and the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association for Widows and Children's Fund.