The Fureys

The Fureys
Finbar & Eddie Furey, Musikhalle, Hamburg, in October 1974
Background information
Also known as	The Fureys and Davey Arthur, The Furey Brothers, The Furey Family
Origin	Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Folk music
Years active	1974–present
Associated acts	Finbar Furey, Davey Arthur, The Clancy Brothers
Website	The Fureys.com
Members	Eddie Furey George Furey Davey Arthur Camillus Hiney Aidan Guilfoyle
Past members	Finbar Furey Paul Furey (deceased) Dominic Leech

The Fureys are an Irish male folk band originally formed in 1976. The group consisted initially of four brothers who grew up in Ballyfermot, Dublin. Eddie, Finbar, Paul and George Furey are of Irish Traveller heritage. Two of the band's singles have been number one hits in Ireland, and two of their albums charted in the United Kingdom. They have also been credited as The Fureys and Davey Arthur.

Prior to the band's formation, two of the brothers toured as a duo known simply by their names as Eddie and Finbar Furey. For a while in 1969–1970, the duo performed with The Clancy Brothers and appeared on two of the Irish folk group's albums. The second of these albums contained two songs composed by the Fureys, "Flowers in the Valley" and "Jennifer Gentle". In the meanwhile, their brother Paul Furey had, together with Davey Arthur and Brendan Leeson, formed a band called The Buskers. Eddie and Finbar and the Buskers appeared together in Germany at the "Irish Folk Festival" in 1974, where they performed as The Furey Brothers. The Buskers, now with the addition of George Furey, appeared there again a year later as The Furey Family, when they were joined by their father Ted, a renowned traditional fiddler, who was 73 at that time. Ted Furey had recorded a solo fiddle album Toss the Feathers released by the Outlet label in 1967.

Finbar, Eddie, and Paul Furey formed a folk group called Tam Linn in 1976 with Davey Arthur. When their brother George joined them later that year, the band changed its name to The Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur. They eventually simplified their name to The Fureys and Davey Arthur (and just The Fureys when Arthur did not perform with them).

In 1981, The Fureys released their most successful single "When You Were Sweet Sixteen", becoming a worldwide hit, reaching #14 on the UK Singles Chart, #1 on the Irish Singles Chart and #9 on the Australian Singles Chart. "The Green Fields of France" also gave them an Irish #1, remaining in the single charts for twenty eight weeks. They also had two Top 40 British albums called Golden Days and At the End of the Day.