Liam Clancy (; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's first pop stars. They achieved global sales of millions and appeared in sold-out concerts at such prominent venues as Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. Liam was generally considered to be the group's most powerful vocalist. Bob Dylan regarded him as the greatest ballad singer ever. In 1976, as part of the duo Makem and Clancy, he had a number one hit in Ireland with the anti-war song "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (written by Scots-Australian Eric Bogle). Upon his death The Irish Times said his legacy was secured. Early life He was born at Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland on 2 September 1935, the ninth and youngest surviving child (two died in childhood) of Robert Joseph Clancy and Joanna McGrath. As a child, he was known as William or Willie, named after his mother's hero Willie Doyle. He later acquired the nickname 'Liam' from Cyril Cusack as 'William' was "too English". He displayed an artistic disposition at an early age, while growing up in Carrick-on-Suir. The first song he learned was "The Croppy Boy". He received a Christian Brothers education before taking a job as an insurance man in Dublin. Whilst there he also took night classes at the National College of Art and Design. Still in his teens, Liam explored writing and painting, though he was particularly drawn to the theatre. In his early performing days, he began to call himself Liam. Before he was twenty years old, Liam had founded the local dramatic society now called "Brewery Lane Theatre and Arts Centre", and had produced, directed, set-directed, and starred in John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. Liam also performed at the renowned Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. He encountered Diane Hamilton Guggenheim when she came to his hometown to visit his mother, and set off on a tour of Ireland alongside her. During her 1955 trip to Keady, Clancy encountered Tommy Makem for the first time. He later moved to New York City and referred to Greenwich Village as "the island for people escaped from repressed backgrounds". Singing career Clancy Brothers Liam Clancy began singing with his brothers, Paddy and Tom Clancy, at fund-raising events for the Cherry Lane