[3] Hurley was born in 1949 and grew up in Milltown, Dublin, with four brothers (Fran, Liam, Joe, and Des) as well as two sisters (Flo and Olive).

[5] Norma slipped off stage on her first night performing, but stayed as an audience member the remainder of the shows due to her interest in Hurley.

He released several successful singles during this period with The Wheels including Isadora, Take Me Tonight and Poor Man's Roses, all of which made it into the Irish charts.

In early 1971, Hurley joined The Nevada, one of Ireland's top pop acts of that era, quickly becoming their most popular ever lead singer with a string of number one hits - many penned by British songwriters Les Reed and Barry Mason specifically for Hurley including "Sometimes", "Kiss Me Goodbye", and "I Never Said Goodbye".

Though he was signed to Red Bus Records (one of the UK's premier agencies), Hurley was considered an uphill battle for showbiz promoters.

Established artists like Hurley, whose careers had begun in the showband era, were making way for rock groups like U2 (among others) who were changing the music map in Ireland and internationally.

"When" was written by Brendan Graham, who subsequently composed two Eurovision winning songs for Ireland, "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" in 1994 and "The Voice" for mezzo-soprano Eimear Quinn in 1996.

In 2010 he celebrated 40 years in show business with a sell-out tour of Ireland with his special guest, legendary singer Rita Coolidge at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre.

Kevin Myers, writing in the "Irish Independent" in September 2010 said:His intuitive sense of the beautiful is one reason why Red Hurley is such a wonderful singer.

In August 2014, he was one of the musical soloists chosen to perform at the State Funeral of former Irish Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds.