Singer Ivan Vaughan, who performed under the name Simon Scott, died during Storm Desmond when he was caught in a flood on the Monaghan-Tyrone border near his home at Caledon, Co Tyrone.
He was returning home from doing what he loved, entertaining, having sung for a wedding party in Co Monaghan. His death removes another link with the glory days of the Irish showbands in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The high point of Vaughan’s career came when he was a vocalist with the Plattermen, one of the more musically sophisticated bands of the time. In his later years he built a reputation as a solo entertainer. His prefence was for pop, but he could turn his hand to most styles. He was always willing to perform for charities and never asked for expenses, let alone a fee.
Music had always been part of Vaughan’s life. His mother, Annie, (née O’Neill) knew her music. Her house was a “céilí house” where neighbours called for a cup of tea and a chat. From an early age, Vaughan sang.
Star quality
At 15 he joined a Dungannon-based showband. By his late teens he was showing star quality, combining personality, looks and stagecraft.
His career took off when, at a dance in Dungannon, the band leader spotted him and invited him on stage to sing. That led to employment as a full-time musician, and to his becoming “Simon Scott”.
In 1968 he joined the Plattermen, a band which had moved from staple Country and Irish fare to a rock sound. Vaughan embraced that. In the mid-1970s he moved to Mullingar and the Apaches showband, where his talent for showmanship flourished: he performed dressed as a Native American under the stage name “Big Chief”.
The showband phenomenon, however, was in decline. For a while Vaughan combined playing in bands with various day jobs. In the early 1980s he moved to England, where he turned his talent to managing pubs.
Around the turn of the century, he returned to his native Tyrone. There he took to the road again with a one-man show, building up a store of backing tracks which enabled him to move freely among the audience with a microphone.
Ivan Vaughan was born in August 1945 in Castlecaulfield, outside Dungannon. He attended primary school there and in Dungannon. He was one of the last generation in the North to leave school at 15 with just a primary education. In his teens, he worked at various jobs before becoming a full-time singer.
A few years ago he suffered serious illness and recovered. At the time of his death, he had many plans for future work. Despite being a showman on stage, he was a quiet and reflective man, who always retained an innnocence that endeared him to those who knew him.
Ivan Vaughan is survived by his widow, Tish, his daughter, Victoria, sisters Eileen and Ann, brothers John and Willie, stepdaughters Helen and Karen and Victoria’s mother, Carole.