Dolphin Discs The founding of the record label in 1968 was preceded by the opening of a
record shop by Joe O'Reilly Snr named Dolphin Discs in the
Dolphin's Barn suburb of Dublin a decade earlier in (approximately) June 1958. By 1979, there were five Dolphin Discs shops in Dublin city alone, according to a
Hot Press Yearbook published for that year, located at 3
Burgh Quay, 59
Saint Stephen's Street, 22
Marlborough Street, 164
Capel Street, and 2a
Talbot Street. In September 2012, Paul O'Reilly announced that the Talbot Street store would be closing by the end of the month.
Dolphin Records Dolphin Records was established in February 1968. however the song does not feature in the
list of number-one singles of 1968 in Ireland. In February 1969, the
Cork Examiner reported on singer
Muriel Day having recently signed a three year contract with 'Dolphin Records of Dublin', as she was photographed alongside the 'Directors of the record company' Brian Barker and Oliver Barry. In August 1971, the
Irish Independent reported that
RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster, had decided to restrict the broadcasting of an album of Irish
rebel songs entitled "Up The Rebels" (featuring the Wolfe Tones), which had been recently re-released by Dolphin. A spokesman for RTÉ said that the broadcaster had decided "not to play records which could create tension in
Northern Ireland" (see:
The Troubles), but assured that the decision would be rescinded once the problems in Northern Ireland had subsided. The bill included
Na Filí,
Gemma Hasson,
Brendan O'Reilly,
The Barleycorn,
The Freshmen,
Leon Rowsome (sic) Junior (
píb uilleann), and
Michael Dooley (
bodhrán), Bunratty Castle Singers and
The Wolfe Tones.
Brendan Balfe acted as compere for the evening, while
Tom McGrath produced the show. Writing of Black's success as of 1993, the
Cork Examiner wrote: Winner of just about every award open to her in this country, a successful recording and performing artiste in America, Australia, Japan and the UK (where she has filled the
Albert Hall twice), and blessed with what the
New York Post described as A Voice To Die For, it's hard to believe that no Irish label was interested in recorded Mary Black as a solo artiste ten years ago. But every cloud has a silver lining, and from this lack of foresight came Dara Records, who have since built up an enviable reputation for quality Irish recordings. A 1978 edition of the
Irish Times column ''"An Irishman's Diary"'', described the process of recording celebrity chef
Seán Kinsella for an upcoming Dolphin release: The
Evening Herald wrote that "you may recognise it as the jingle on the Joe Walsh Tours ad on TV". The song went to
number one in Ireland two weeks after its release, and was the
Christmas number one in Ireland for that year. By January 1986, the song was also "dancing around the bottom half of the British top 60" charts, according to the
Evening Herald. Speaking to the same paper, Morgan thanked O'Reilly and Dolphin Records for having backed the project: "I wrote it specifically so that it could be accessible to an English audience as well. I felt I had to get it out on disc and then worry about it. And fair play to Paul O'Reilly and Dolphin Records for going with it." In 1986, the 'megastores' of music retailers
Virgin and
HMV "invaded" Dublin, according to
The Irish Press, and by October 1987 had together taken 19.7% of Ireland's retail music market: When the so called megastores opened in Dublin 12 months ago -
Virgin in the former McBirney's building and
HMV stores in
Grafton Street - Armageddon was predicted. Independent retailers were going to the wall, those chains such as
Golden Discs and Dolphin Records were also bound to fail, the pundits said... Dolphin (Discs) still have five outlets - one in
Penneys and the other four retail outlets are scattered about the
North City Centre area. Dolphin Discs has rationalised its operations in the retail business, he (Joe O'Reilly of Dolphin Discs) says, and turned their attention to the their other interests - a
cassette manufacturing company and a record company. "It was inevitable", he says. "It has been obvious from the start that they would take some of the market because the business wasn't there for them all. No-one has had good retail business this year, anyway, and that's not just the record industry." "Dolphin have always concentrated on promoting major folk groups in the past and have had many international successes with groups like
The Dubliners. They forecast a bright future on the international scene for Royal Flush." As of December 2021, Dolphin Records remained active as both a record label and retail chain. Speaking to the
Irish Independent, Paul O'Reilly was reluctant to divulge which artists had declined to appear on the album, mentioning "Some of the older ones were not so keen, but younger people were queuing up to get on it", adding that the album was "for believers and non-believers (and) it has a religious theme obviously, but it's not in your face."{{Cite news|last=Quigley ==Artists who have appeared on Dolphin Records==