June McDonnell chats to Robert Mizzell, Jimmy Buckley and Patrick Feeney – all popular and talented singers in their own right – who have also performed for many years as The Three Amigos, playing to packed venues throughout Ireland and beyond.

 

Recently I had the privilege of chatting with The Three Amigos – Robert Mizzell, Jimmy Buckley and Patrick Feeney. Putting these three very popular and talented singers together was the brainchild of radio presenter, producer, concert promoter and all-round music mogul Joe Finnegan.

The trio have been performing together as The Three Amigos since 2010 and playing to seismic audience worldwide. In 2013 they took a break for about three years but came back in 2016 with a new album aptly titled On the Road Again. As well as performing under The Three Amigos banner, all three singers have their own individual very successful careers.
Robert Mizzell was the first of the Amigos I spoke to and boy has he had an interesting life!
“I came to Ireland on St.Stephen’s Day 1990. It was the love for an Irish girl that brought me here but sadly it didn’t work out. I do however have a lovely daughter Amy and granddaughter Lainey from the relationship”.

Cupid smiled again on Robert when he met his present wife Adele, with whom he has two lovely children, Maisie who is nine and Leo who is five. It was love at first sight with Adele. When he met her at one of his gigs she was a student.
“I was smitten and told her that when she finished college I would marry her”.
And like the fairytale ‘they live happily ever after’ having married in 2013.

Before coming to Ireland Robert served in the American army.
“It was the best thing I ever did, it knocked the rough edges off me. I was born in Louisiana and had a very turbulent childhood.
“I credit my foster parents Mama and Papa Courtney for making me the man I am today, I owe everything to them”.
He was so appreciative of the love and nurturing he received from the couple that he co-wrote a song Mama Courtney to honour this great woman.
“That song reached No. 1 in the European country music charts where it remained for twenty weeks,” he recalls.
“I always wanted to be a country music singer but it took me awhile to get there. I worked at a variety of odd jobs for the first few years, on building sites and I also sold insurance policies as well as mops and buckets. I even did bouncer at a gig in Naas for Louis Walsh.

“I spoke with Louis about my ambition to become a country singer and his advice was to contact Tommy Swarbrigg. I drove over to Mullingar and tracked him down.After hearing me sing Tommy took me under his wing.

He wrote the song Kick Ass Country for me and it was a massive hit and launched my singing career. Say You Love Me was another successful song that got lots of radio plays.
“After working with Tommy for a few years I began working with Willie Carty and with a new band called The Country Kings. Thankfully it was the right move at the right time and was quite successful.”
In 2011 Robert’s achievements in country music were celebrated in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, where he was inducted into the prestigious Shreveport Walk of Stars. This honour, is one of the highest accolades his hometown could bestow. Previous inductees include Elvis Presley and Hank Williams Snr. and Jnr.
“This was one of my proudest moments”, Robert recalls.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own