The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew.

The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals.

They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline, which was part-owned by Phil Solomon CEO of Major Minor, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" (which sold over 250,000 copies in the UK)[2] and "The Black Velvet Band".

During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States.

The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.

They influenced many generations of Irish bands and their legacy can to this day be heard in the music of artists such as The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly.

Much adored in their native country, covers of Irish ballads by Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly tend to be regarded as definitive versions.

[6] The Dubliners announced their retirement in the autumn of 2012, after 50 years of performing, following the death of the last living original member Barney McKenna.

As of 2024, Sean Cannon is the only remaining member of the Dubliners in that group, following the retirement of Patsy Watchorn in 2014 and the death of Eamonn Campbell in 2017.

The change of name came about because of Ronnie Drew's unhappiness with it, together with the fact that Luke Kelly was reading Dubliners by James Joyce at the time.

[9] Drew, McKenna and Thomas Whelan had originally teamed up for a fundraising concert[10] and then went on to work in a revue with the Irish comedian John Molloy at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.

[8] Ronnie Drew died at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin on 16 August 2008 after a long illness.

Some of Drew's most significant contributions to the band are the hit single "Seven Drunken Nights", his rendition of "Finnegan's Wake", and "McAlpine's Fusiliers".

Kelly sang many defining versions of traditional songs like "The Black Velvet Band", "Whiskey in the Jar", "Home Boys Home"; but also Phil Coulter's "The Town I Loved So Well", Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town", "The Wild Rover", and "Raglan Road", written by the famous Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh.

In November 2004, the Dublin city council voted unanimously to erect a bronze statue of Luke Kelly.

Reilly, a long-time friend of the group, toured with them before on several occasions; he was already a successful solo artist in Ireland, scoring hits with "The Fields of Athenry" and "The Town I Loved So Well".

Watchorn made a name for himself with The Dublin City Ramblers; like Kelly, he accompanies his songs on the five-string banjo.

Christy Moore, Paddy Reilly and Jim McCann also featured on the CD; Moore sings a tribute to Luke Kelly, and McCann sings the song "I Loved the Ground She Walked Upon", written by Phil Coulter and Ralph McTell.

After the tour, Jim McCann was diagnosed with throat cancer and, though he fully recovered, his voice was severely damaged, and he was unable to sing since his illness.