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About Us
How it began...
My late Father, Richie O'Shea, was
Born in Brooklyn, New York, He attended City College of New York for Business and Public Relations. Entering the workforce of New York City, he worked for a major brokerage firm. During that time, he also took part in joining many of the Irish American Organizations. Always enthused with music and being part of his local church choir, he found a love for Irish music, being that his parents who hailed from West Cork made music an integral part of their lives. He first appeared on the bandstand with the renowned Mickey Carton’s Orchestra in Gaelic Park, New York. After getting a taste of the Irish music experience and performing with many local Irish groups in the metropolitan area, he decided to form his own band called the Four Provinces.
After years of success, and recording his first album in 1972, called “These Are My Mountains” on the Avoca label, it became an instant hit. This set the stage for him to continue his performances at dances, weddings, concerts and festivals.
In 1974, he decided to emigrate to Ireland and set up a business in Newcastle West, County Limerick. Owning and operating a local public house, where there he found the people friendly and jovial. Continuing his musical endeavors at his place of business also brought new horizons, such as becoming involved in local community affairs, and performing for local dinner dances and variety shows.
In 1980, he returned to New York and was asked to join the Paddy Noonan Concert Series and simultaneously recorded the number one hit “One Day at A Time”. Touring coast to coast throughout the United States for the next five years, that song became one of the most requested recordings on Irish American radio.
In 1985, he set out to form a new band of his own, with his longtime friend Frank Keegan. Together, they introduced many new ideas in the Irish entertainment field, such as Irish Weekend Getaways, Cruises, Tours to Ireland and recording their first album together called “Shannagolden”. It was during this same time he decided to go into business importing Irish goods with an Irish Import shop. After touring and working together for over ten years, he suffered a heart attack and would require open heart surgery. Owing to this, he took a break to recover and to set new goals for himself, his family and his career.
After his break he decided to start a new band and recorded another album titled “Only Our Rivers Run Free”. This album features Michael O’Rourke, Jimmy Fracasi and Jimmy Walsh to name a few. He officially retired from the music scene a few years after opening up another Irish Import business in 1995 in Stewart Manor, New York. During this time, he made many guest appearances and continued to support, promote and spread Irish culture throughout the Irish American Community.
On January 9, 2016, he passed away due to heart complications at St. Francis hospital in Manhasset New York. He is survived by his loving wife, former Bridget Carmody, of Newport, County Tipperary, his fine children, Joseph, Bridget, Kathleen, Richard and Sean as well as his ten grandchildren, Brianna, Jimmy, Carly, Eileen, David, Aiden, Tommy, Shannon, Molly & Owen.
My family kept the gift shop open for a couple of years and decided to close shop on January 6th, 2019.
After my Father passed, I decided that I wanted to keep the tradition alive by continuing tours to Ireland and possibly beyond. So O'Shea Travels was born and I started to explore all of the many options available to me and the destinations that I wanted to tour. It is my hope to continue this long tradition and be able to bring people to Ireland to experience the people, culture & history.
My Mission
It is my pleasure to be able to take people to Ireland and show them the pure beauty the country holds. While traveling throughout this breathtaking country, you will in no doubt in my mind be amazed at all Ireland has to offer and feel more than welcomed by the Irish people. It is my mission to promote Irish culture and introduce Ireland to travelers in a unique fashion and make it a most memorable entertaining tour they will always remember.
Even though this family tradition has been going on for well over 30 years, it is my hope that it will grow and I will be able to include other countries as well in the near future.
Stay in touch
We are continuing to grow our contacts more and more each year. Be sure to sign up on our mailing list so that you can receive all of our promotional offers currently available.
Tours
It has been a tradition since our business first started to run a tour to Ireland each year. For over 30 years Richie O'Shea took promoting Irish culture a step further by getting groups together to tour Ireland & beyond. We were looking forward to creating a new tour by 2022. Unfortunately due to Covid-19, we had to put a lot of plans on hold. Finally, we are up and running with two NEW tours to Ireland coming up in 2025! We are continuing to work with our partners in Ireland to make sure we will be ready to return to Ireland safely. . For more information please contact us or join our mailing list.