The following is from Des Geraghty's book (so if wrong, blame him, not me!)

"Luke was born on 17 Nov 1940 (his birth certificate says 17 December, but his mother always maintained it was a month out, and the family agreed that she should know). [Born in]Lattimore Cottages on Sheriff Street; a collection of eight or so single-storey buildings [near Connolly Station], outside toilet and a single [communal] tap in the yard. Luke's mother, Julia Fleming, grew up in Lattimore Cottages. Her mother, who lived with the family until her death in 1953, was a MacDonald and the Kellys believe she came from Scottish stock, which may explain something of the affinity Luke always had for Scottish songs. In 1942, the authorities demolished Lattimore Cottages, and they became the first family in St Laurence [sic] O'Toole flats on the Mayor Street side. The Kellys are a close and loyal tribe and none of Luke's meteroic rise in the 60s and 70s affected their relationship with one another.

St Lawrence [sic]O'Toole Boys Choir was an exceptionally good one, renowned in the 40s and 50s in Dublin. When young Luke Kelly applied to join, Brother Cordial turned him away and told him to go home and practise the scales."

Summarising now; Luke married Deirdre O'Connell, an Irish-American, in the parish church in Whitehall [north Dublin] on on 21 June 1965. Eventually the marriage broke up and in the latter years of his life Luke's partner was Madeliene Seiler, who is German.

[30 June 1980, Cork Opera House]- Luke as quoted by Geraghty - "There I was in front of 2000 people, in the middle of 'The Town I Loved So Well', when it started. I felt the warning signs. I had this terrible spasm of pain down my left side. I was having difficulty holding the instrument and my speech was going. The words I was singing were coming out in a babble. I was taken off and later went back on to finish the show. I knew it was time to have a really good check up".

Summarising again: Luke had a brain tumour. He was operated on, for 5 hours, in Cork Regional Hospital. The operation was a temporary success but in March 1983 he required a second operation, this time in Richmond Hospital in Dublin. Again he seemed to recover. But on 28 January 1984 he was again admitted to the Richmond for emergency treatment. He died at 11 p.m. on 30 January 1984.

"He had a quality impossible to define and certainly impossible to learn" - Phil Coulter, February 1984.