Finbarr Donnelly (25 April 1962 – 18 June 1989) was a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland, who moved to Cork city at a young age.

[1] Known for his striking stage presence and absurdist, surreal lyrics, he and the band were hugely influential on later generations of Irish musicians.

He met guitarist Ricky Dineen in 1978, and having bonded over a shared interest in UFOs, they formed a band, initially known as Nun Attax that year.

Following the recruitment of various second guitarists and the cellist Úna Ní Chanainn, they recorded their most acclaimed EP Knot a Fish in 1983, and moved to London later that year.

[6] In 1985, they met Alan McGee and producer Joe Foster of Creation Records, a label which the band admired.

[7][8] McGee asked them to play a number of gigs at his Living Room club night on Conway Street, Camden.

"[9] According to writer David Cavanagh, during band's gigs at the Living Room, "Donnelly...snatched pints from the hands of people in the crowd, and shouted surreal, Flann O'Brien-esque lyrics while his colleagues clonked out ramshackle, all-elbows rhythms.

The label's art director Peter Fowler remembers visiting them in Rotherhithe where he said "they were living with ten builders...They invited us around for tea, and they brought out a tray of jelly babies.

"[9] After the band broke up in 1985,[10][11] Donnelly and Dineen stayed in London and played a number of gigs with a drum machine early in 1986, but did not attract industry interest.

"[3][14][15] Before the band could build on their successful EP, on 18 June 1989, Donnelly accidentally drowned while swimming in Hyde Park's Serpentine Pond, aged 27.

"[18] Remarking on Donnelly's eccentric stage persona, Membranes vocalist and writer John Robb said "Over the years I’ve heard all manner of tedious bastard bands yapping on about how they broke all the rules and how wild they were – perhaps they never saw Five Go Down to the Sea?

"[19] In 2020, The Quietus critic Eoin Murray wrote that "listening...now, almost 40 years later, it's with a mixture of nausea and awe that we hear so much of young Ireland's modern experience in Donnelly's words – in his frustration and frantic determination.

"[11] In an oral history that served as a companion to the audio documentary Get That Monster Off the Stage, some close associates revealed that Donnelly was gay.

[23] The band Your Heterosexual Violence released the song "Curtains Closed (Eulogy for Finbarr Donnelly)" in June 2019.

compilation album Hiding from the Landlord was released in April 2020, accompanied by a twenty-page fanzine with contributions from Astor, Reekus Records founder Elvira Butler, Cathal Coughlan of The Fatima Mansions, Gavin Friday of the Virgin Prunes, and writers John Robb, Kevin Barry, Declan Lynch and Cónal Creedon.