Larry Cunningham (13 February 1938 – 28 September 2012)[1] was an Irish country music singer, who was one of the leading figures of the showband scene in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1964, Cunningham broke into the British charts with "Tribute to Jim Reeves", the first time an Irish artist had done such a thing.

[3] Cunningham grew up in the townland of Clooneen in Mullinalaghta parish, near Granard, County Longford, in a farming family of seven children.

[4] After leaving school at 16 he went to England and worked as a carpenter, playing Irish traditional music and gaelic football during his spare time.

Still working as a carpenter, he soon joined the part-time Gowna-based Grafton Showband, but left it in 1961 to become fully professional as the lead singer of the Mighty Avons, based in Cavan.