At 12, he formed a garage band with his brother Dan by 12[1] with whom he played in a Legion of Mary gathering[2] and at a glorified hamburger joint called the Shambles.
Southpaw was MacCarthy's first band of note, which he formed with ex-Horslips guitarist Declan Sinnott, w Johnny Campbell, Dave Whyte and Teddie Moynihan.
While in Southpaw, MacCarthy secured gigs at venues such as Cork’s Connolly Hall, supporting John Martyn,[5] the Manhattan Bar in Galway,[6] the Festival Dome,[7] the UCC Downtown Kampus,[8] the Blue Shark in Kinsale,[9] The Meeting Place[10] on Dorset Street[11] and some prestigious Dublin residencies.
[15] Initially, ‘Strain of the Dance’ was to be MacCarthy’s first single, but, due to its disturbing imagery and in respect to the victims of the Stardust tragedy and their families, he and Seamus O’Neill of Mulligan Records mutually settled on ‘Miles of Eyes’ instead.
In the early 1980s, MacCarthy secured a number of support slots for other artists, most notably Chris de Burgh and Maura O'Connell and, while his debut single 'Miles of Eyes' wasn't a chart success, it received near incessant airplay on Irish radio for five weeks.
While recording his debut album, MacCarthy teamed up with some of Ireland's most acclaimed musicians, including Liam O'Maonlai of the Hothouse Flowers, Bill Whelan, Davy Spillane and Honor Heffernan.
The album 'The Song of the Singing Horseman', released in 1991, was commended for its "masterly blend of pop melodies, trad fiddles, Spanish guitars, country-and-western rhythms and chamber-music strings"[19] and received critical acclaim for its rich imagery, which was regarded as having come from a fertile Celtic imagination.
[21] In October 1999, MacCarthy played at the National Concert Hall, Dublin as a special guest with the "fifth Beatle" George Martin, which was a dream for him as a longtime fan of the band.
[23] MacCarthy's third album, The Moment, which was released in the summer of 2002 featured co-writers on five tracks, including a song written with Graham Lyle (the songwriter of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It?").
Upon his return to the live scene, he played with a band consisting of Eleanor Healy (bass and vocals) and Martin Leahy (percussion and drums) to great acclaim.
Deryn O'Callaghan, manager of the Carnegie Arts Centre, has said that, after he had commemorated the town in one of his songs, Jimmy MacCarthy would have a warm welcome whenever he played the venue.
[29][30] Following the release of Hey-Ho Believe and a short promotional tour, MacCarthy kept a low profile until April 2013, when he was inducted into the Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO) Academy and announced further concert dates, including Dublin's Vicar Street.
Composing since the late 1970s, his songs have been recorded by many Irish artists including Christy Moore, Mary Black, Finbar Wright, Maura O'Connell, the Corrs and Westlife.
MacCarthy believes that if Westlife had released "Angel's Wings" as a single the chances were that it could have become a number one hit and that it would have been nice to have a song at the top of the UK charts.
[33] More recently, MacCarthy's songs have been recorded by newer artists such as the Celtic Tenors,[34] Michelle Lally,[35] Marc Roberts,[36] and Tommy O'Sullivan.
[39] Additionally, in a speech he gave while being inducted to the IMRO Irish Songwriters Academy, MacCarthy discussed how, in recent times, traditional radio and television were being replaced by the internet as the means by which music and information are broadcast and disseminated.
Growing up, MacCarthy loved Elvis Presley, Smokey Robinson and especially Dusty Springfield, and he made his first pay covering their songs in pubs.
[23] Some of MacCarthy's favourite songs included ‘Adios Amigo’ and ‘Liverpool Lou’ and, through bands like The Supremes and The Animals, he was introduced to electric guitars.
[44] MacCarthy revealed that he sought to be a pop singer from the age of 19,[45] but, from the release of his debut album 'The Song of the Singing Horseman' in 1991, his music took a shift towards being more folk-oriented.
MacCarthy named James Taylor as the performer most like him, due to the fact he plays guitar and piano on stage, and had two backing singers.
MacCarthy, who has always been outspoken on his views on Irish history and current affairs, likes to include deeper subject matter in his songs, in addition to meaning that seems superficially simplistic.
In live performances, MacCarthy juxtaposed the sentimental feelings of nationhood and belonging with a degree of social critique on Ireland in the late twentieth century.
[59] While MacCarthy no longer records or performs live, he and his wife Chen Quimei are, as of 2020, doing what they can to promote the public welfare cause of European-Chinese cultural and artistic exchanges.
Their work involves actively singing for world peace to demonstrate that there are no borders for the love of the Chinese, and together they practice the concept of community of common destiny for all mankind.
MacCarthy and Quimei lead the European Chinese Culture and Arts Exchange and Cooperation Research Association and the Chinese and foreign International Family Association, which are both involved in international joint anti-epidemic welfare activities between Europe and China, in an effort to build a multi-dimensional and diversified bridge for cultural and artistic exchanges between Europe and China.