By ANDREW CANGIANO
Danny Gallagher, a blues musician and longtime fixture of the Jersey Shore music scene, died Thursday in Colorado where he had been living for the last several months.
Gallagher, who was known as Big Danny (he stood 66, 400 plus pounds) and who had long red hair and a beard, had been referred to as something of a godfather to stars like Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
Gallagher also made a name for himself as a singer/songwriter and blues guitarist and played in bands that included Big Danny and the Boppers and The Lost Leaders Band.
Its a huge shock, said Lee Hefter, who performed with Gallagher at the Berkeley Carteret Hotel in Asbury Park last year.
Hefter, who owns Monmouth Memorial Park in Tinton Falls, said he had spoken to Gallagher the week before his death and thought Big Danny sounded good.
Big Danny Gallagher, a well known blues musician at the Jersey Shore, died last week in Colorado.
He said he and Gallagher had taken a road trip across Denmark and Ireland together two years ago.
He was a wordsmith thats for sure, said long time friend Guido Scano of Ocean Grove. He wrote much of the music that he played.
Scano said that although Big Danny was not exceptionally educated, he was very spiritual, as he had read the complete works of William Shakespeare and the entire Divine Comedy.
Hell definitely be missed, said Scano.
Gallagher was a high school football player at Asbury Park High School. Later he was a union iron worker out of Perth Amboy. He also played for the Jersey Generals semi-pro football team. Accumulated injuries from the playing field and construction site left him disabled and in chronic pain. He was also known for playing gigs for free for every charitable cause that asked.
Drummer Vini Lopez, who grew up in Neptune remembers Gallagher at Holy Spirit Grammar School in Asbury Park, where they were classmates together. But his most vivid memories where when they played the Upstage club together in the late 1960s.
We always talked, Lopez said. And I remember these guys from Newark used to come down and try to beat him up cus he was a tough guy and they were tough guys.
Lopez said the last time he saw Gallagher was about a year ago before he went back to Ireland.
When he came around we would always sing crazy songs and talk, he said. One of the last things he did was sing with Steel Mill (Lopezs band) on the Dead Sea Chronicles.
We always sang good together, he said.
Gallagher spent many of the last years in Dublin, Ireland, where he continued to perform. He used a large walking stick to hobble around, because as he put it in an interview last July – the legs aint got it no more.
In an interview last year, Gallagher recalled his time spent with Springsteen.
I remember one night after Bruce moved into the house that a group of us were sharing, he played me a song called Rosalita…he just had that something special, Gallagher said.
A tribute event for Gallagher will be held at Red Fusion, Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park on Feb. 11 at 2 pm, said Eileen Chapman, the assistant director of performing arts at Monmouth University and a friend of Gallagher for more than 30 years. Performing will be many bands Gallagher played with in the past.
Danny would want everybody to have a nice big party in his memory and thats what were going to do, she said.
Chapman, who often helped with the annual Clearwater Festival, said Gallagher played at the event often and at Mrs. Jays, a club in Asbury Park which was once located next to the Stone Pony.
She said that Gallagher is absolutely going to be missed.
Gallaghers son Eddie, of St. Louis, MO, thanked friends and family for their support. Eddie said his father will be cremated and that a ceremony for him will be held at Monmouth Memorial Park on the morning of Feb 11.
Following will be the tribute to Gallagher at Red Fusion.
Another tribute will be held for the internationally known musician in Ireland, where Gallagher also performed, his son said.
Eddie said the children regret that their fathers name was not included on a plaque on the Asbury Park boardwalk commemorating the citys music.
Friends can visit a new website dedicated to the Jersey Shore musician, www.bigdannygallagher.com, and post comments as well.
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Danny Gallagher, my grandpa has been and always will be a great inspiration to me and my music….. I miss him very much.