MEET MAURICE BOLAND
The Boland Show syndicated in Spain and Ireland exclusively on iTalk fm (Europe)
Johnny Beerling, ex-Head of BBC Radio One said of Boland: "Maurice is quite a character. His success is quite remarkable for a man who started out as a stand-up comedian. [Incorrect, but it's easy to imagine Boland in that role.] He's got it about right. He has a good awareness and understanding of what the audience needs. I admire him."
The novelist Frederick Forsyth said of the Boland Show: 'Its very popular, successful show, and all credit to him. It's worked brilliantly. It's light-hearted, honest, occasionally controversial' .
Novelist Lord Jeffrey Archer summed it all up by adding: Maurice Boland is "the professional's professional. He is very hard working, very demanding in his research and above all - which is not the case with all journalists - he is very fair. He sees both sides."
Born in Dublin into a medical family Maurice caught the showbiz bug at a very early age. After listening to music by Joey Dee and the Starlighters , live at the Peppermint Lounge New York , and Sandy Nelson on the drums with his hit single 'Drum Beat', Maurice decided that showbiz was for him.
By the age of 12 he started drumming with a young Dublin Beat Group ‘The Key Notes’ and after reshuffling , the band was named ‘The KingBees’. After the onslaught of The Beatles, Maurice felt the time had come to try his luck at the fame game and ran way to Germany with the rest of The KingBees trying to emulate John , Paul George and Ringo’s success.
The one problem he had was that he forgot to tell his parents , who were not at all happy with his decision to leave school at 15 and not to study medicine!!! By 1969 his dream of stardom failed to materialise so he decided to open a discotheque. It was to be the first disco in Ireland and he chose Dublin’s fashionable Lesson Street to open his basement club ' Elizabeths ''. The club became a huge success, attracting Ireland's rich and famous and as a result the name Maurice Boland began appearing in all of Dublin's gossip columns. In the early 80's, bored with his life in Ireland, Maurice, moved his family to Marbella , Spain after acquiring ' Oscars ' a discothèque owned by the then formula one racing champion James Hunt.
In ’86 he opened his successful Cuba Club on Marbella’s Golden Mile. His success in Marbella led , almost by default , to his first radio show in English on one of Spain’s largest independent Radio stations . The Boland Talk Show quickly became a favourite amongst the large ex pat communities along the Costa Del Sol.