Profile: Paul Duffy

For most people running a successful restaurant business would keep them busy enough. That's clearly not enough for Paul Duffy, owner of The Irish Rover Pub in Gulf Gate, who's also an accomplished and active musician.

You might have seen him stepping in to blow a rocking and soulful sax alongside one of the bands onstage in the large and comfortable dining room at the Rover. Or grabbing a mike to add powerful vocal harmonies to the mix. "Wow, who is that guy? He's terrific," you may think to yourself. Well hold your hat, because not only does Duffy wail on saxophone--he also plays trumpet, flute, guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, tin whistle and bagpipes. As Michaleen Oge Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald) exclaims in the classic Irish movie, "The Quiet Man", "Prodigious!"Born into an Irish circus family, Duffy's International Circus, Paul Duffy actually walked the tightrope while playing sax. As a young man, he played with The Miami Showband and The Irishmen, also working in Dublin as a studio musician. His siblings are also musicians, and the lot of them formed a band called MPH. While touring in Mexico and Texas, he was hired to join The Commitments, a gig that lasted for six years. Over the years, he's played with the likes of Ben E. King, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Brian Johnson, Suzi Quatro, Chris de Burgh, Paul Hazel, The Corrs and Hazel O'Connor.

Along with performances at numerous Irish pubs along the Eastern Seaboard, Duffy played for seven years at Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.

He has the mien of a true entertainer, reliably presenting a smiling, energized face to the room, giving his all whenever he instrumentalizes or sings. You can see and hear him every Friday night at The Irish Rover, on Gateway Avenue, in Gulf Gate, Sarasota, from 7:30 - 10 PM, where he plays traditional Irish songs and American classics.

The Rover is smoke-free and family-friendly.