Born and raised in a musical family of the purest Irish Tradition, a very young Jackie McAuley already had begun to absorb the wealth of Reels and Jigs that were being played at home.
At seventeen Jack and his brother Pat joined the band 'Them' and embarked on the road to rock and went to London. It was at this time Jack became friends with rock and roll legend 'Gene Vincent' This was to become the most significant change in McAuleys career. "Gene really was the one who gave me the confidence to write'. After Them fell apart Jack moved to Dublin and frequented the back room folk sessions at O'Donahues pub where a bunch of lads who called themselves the 'Dublinners' often played. Later Jack set up a blues band with a young piano player called Paul Brady called "The Cult'
Two years later he went to Copenhagen where he set up a band and recorded an album called 'The Belfast Gypsies' on Sonnet Records. He then returned to London and joined a little Jazz/rock outfit and went of to the Lebanon for three months. This was in the wake of the Arab /Israeli war, and the impression of the Palestinian refugee camps scattered along the roads, and the suffering, injustice, capitalism, hunger and despair was later to become a driving force in McAuleys lyrics.
Back in London Jack teamed up with Judy Dyble of Fairport Convention to play the folk circuit. They soon signed a contract with Pye Records and recorded an album under the name 'Trader Horn'. Judy Dyble later married and retired from music and Jack went on to record his first solo album for Pye records, aptly entitled 'Jackie McAuley'
During the seventies Jack became a session musician and worked on numerous albums which included the top Jamaican reggae band 'The Heptones' , albums with 'Jim Capaldi' and 'Rebop' of the band Traffic, and two albums with keyboard wizard 'Rick Wakeman' another with jazz singer Viola Wills - the list goes on. Jack played and recorded with many different acts throughout this period from the weird and wonderful Viv Stanshal to Cherokee Indian - Marvin Rainwater. He then joined one of his old heroes 'Lonnie Donegan' as Musical Director and spent a few years as his sideman. His song writing was realized in 1982 when he got together with his friend Johnny Gustafson {Merseybeats & Roxy Music} and penned the Top ten hit 'Dear John' for 'Status Quo'
