The impact of growing up in a house filled with music reverberates through the life of the man now known as ‘The Irish King of Swing’. Dubliner Luke Thomas, 41, reminisces fondly about his youth in Walkinstown, where family gatherings transformed their dining room into an impromptu concert hall. His aunties and uncles would arrive, furniture would be cleared away, and a spirited jamming session would begin with everyone scrambling to “grab anything you could to make a noise with.”
At the heart of these musical gatherings stood his mother Bernadine, who arrived in Ireland from Trinidad in the 1970s. Her natural flamboyance drew everyone’s attention, creating the magnetic centre around which these family performances revolved. “My love of performing,” Luke acknowledges, “I definitely get from her.”
Indeed, watching Luke command the stage with his band, The Swing Cats, reveals how thoroughly he absorbed that early jazz education. All that pizazz from his childhood finds expression in their performances of classics from the Great American Songbook. This man possesses such authentic swing that we find ourselves chair-dancing and toe-tapping through timeless standards like Puttin’ on the Ritz even as we write.
Later, after our morning photoshoot—all flashing bulbs, winning smiles, and sharp suits—we sit down with Luke for a more intimate conversation. The razzle-dazzle gives way to thoughtful reflection as he shares insights about challenges in the music industry, his redefined notion of success, and the honour of performing at Áras an Uachtaráin.
Luke, tell us about you.
I’m a singer, broadcaster and producer who likes to entertain people and wear smart suits while doing so! I have been lucky enough to make a living and travel to many different countries because of music and I am very grateful for that. I love getting the most out of life and trying new things. I also recently started as a radio presenter on Dublin’s 98FM, which I love!
What is the life of a touring band like?
I absolutely love touring. Getting to meet people and perform for people who have paid hard-earned money to see us is just amazing. The music we perform is the oldest form of pop music and spans back to the 1920s right through to today, we call it ‘vintage pop’. We never have a set-list for our tour as every show is different and we like to include the audience as much as possible in the show.
Luke it was great to have your mam, Bernadine, along for this shoot, that must have been special to have her involved?
It was, you know… also she’s recently retired and has worked two jobs for most of my life. Now at the age I’m at, I’m hugely aware of all the things my mum has done for me so I always look for opportunities to involve her because she’s been the main driving force for me in life. She’s given me my ambition.
How do you think she did that?
Just how she conducted herself. She would say things like, “Whatever you want to do in life son, do it with ambition”. My mam came from Trinidad back in the 70s, she was pen pals with my dad, that’s how that happened! She wanted a different life, a life with more opportunity. When she came over here she couldn’t sew, but she started work in a sewing factory and learnt on the job, then she got into James’ Hospital; I just always admired her drive. She always supported me – as long as I finished school!
You say that you got your outgoing personality, your performance personality, from her, too.
Growing up my mam would have been the centre of the party. Everyone would be drawn to her flamboyance. I remember my aunties and uncles coming around, they’d clear the tables in the dining room and everyone would have a seat around the edge and it would be a case of grabbing anything you could to make a noise…you might have two guitars, I might have had a shaker with a bit of rice in it and I just remember looking up at my parents who would have been no older than myself now….it was a brilliant bit of entertainment.
No wonder you wanted a career in music…
Yeah, no wonder. I suppose I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, I just wanted to do some type of performance. Then in school myself and two of the guys were just messing and started a band but once people started cheering and I heard that sound of applause I was hooked. The first gig I did was supporting Coolio, I was in transition year in school! Now obviously you don’t get those kind of gigs every week as a youngster, it just happened to fall into place. So I spent a couple of years trying to chase that level of success, but that was the vehicle that got me into it.
When did you realise how hard of an industry it was to make it in?
I went from sitting in the front row at the Meteor Irish Music Awards with Westlife, Bono and The Chili Peppers to needing to get a job at Guinness where I worked for a good ten years all the way through most of my twenties. I soon realised that if you weren’t signed to a big label you could be haemorrhaging a lot of money trying to keep up with everybody else. It was only when I was in my 30s that I got back into it full time again. By that stage my idea of success had changed. If you can make a living out of it, if you can support yourself, and your loved ones, pay your mortgage, while doing what you love, that’s success. You know there’s only one Ed Sheeran, there’s only one Beyoncé, and that’s fine. Only as you get older do you realise that and make peace with that. And it’s not that you’re not ambitious or that you don’t want bigger gigs, you do, but you have to be practical and see success at every level of the industry.
So what does pay your bills, what’s your bread and butter today?
My bread and butter is doing theatre shows, corporate events and doing weddings, like I’ve done probably close to 1,500 weddings over the last 15 years and I love them, helping people create memories, being part of someone’s love story is lovely.
Talking about creating memories, you’ve graced the doors of the Arás countless times – President Michael D. Higgins is a fan!
President Higgins is a massive fan of the band and has personally requested us to play at his summer parties every June since we first played eight years ago. We’re actually playing for the US ambassador as well, for their 4th of July celebration, that’s huge! It will be me and Una Healy for that one!
You and Una? Tell us about that…
It had been said to me several times, just by key people in the industry, would I consider touring with a female artist, just to dial it up. The natural choice in the area would be someone like the fantastic Una Healy. Now I didn’t think she’d go for it at first but I did know that she loves gigging and I felt we’d work great together as an act, so I just reached out to her. We’ve since sold out four shows and headlined the Cork Jazz Festival. We’re also about to go on tour together. Una’s a little bit country and I’m all things swing and bigband so audiences are loving it.
What does your darling daughter Heidi (6) think of her dad being up on stage, is it just normal for her now because it’s what dad does?
Yeah it is, she goes, “Daddy, you’re on YouTube again”! During Covid when I’d be doing live streams she appeared a bit because I’d be minding her at home. She’s drawn to the performance side, she’s not shy and I tried a couple of times to get her on stage… I think she will be that way inclined. I’m not encouraging her by the way, it’s just naturally heading in that direction.
Would you like her to follow in your footsteps?
If it’s something she wanted to do I would support her, but Jesus no I wouldn’t force her into it. It’s a very tough business to be in and you have to know what you can offer your audience. You can’t be all things to all people, it just does not work and I found that out myself several times as a younger performer. You just have to really hone in on what you can deliver and do it exceptionally well and then it’s just about sustaining yourself. I would love her to learn how to tap dance and then she can pay off daddy’s mortgage and I can live of her income!
How has Heidi and becoming a dad changed you?
I am far more expressive and emotional since she arrived. I have always been emotionally aware because of my job, but it’s heightened now. People always say it’s just a different love you have for your kids, and until my baba came along I didn’t really know what that feeling was. For me doing what I do for a living has been a blessing because I had so much time with Heidi when she was young during the week instead of sending her to creché, so we have a super connection which I’m really proud of.
We have to leave you now Luke, what are your parting words?
Thank you for having me and for allowing me to have this amazing moment and memory with my mother. Oh, and come see me on tour!