The Bachelors

by William Ruhlmann
The Bachelors were an Irish pop band of the 1960s consisting of brothers Conleth (b.1941 03 18) and Declan Clusky (b.1942 12 12) and John Stokes (b.1940 08 13). They began as an instrumental act playing harmonicas and called The Harmonichords or Harmony Chords in 1958, but turned to singing after a tour of England in 1959. They signed to Decca Records in the U.K. and changed their name in 1962, then scored their first hit, "Charmaine" (#6, 1963). Their biggest hit was "Diane" which went to number one in England and number ten in America in 1964; they continued to chart with new records through 1967 and maintained the original group on the cabaret circuit until a messy split between Stokes and the Cluskys in 1984.