Rod Stewart isn't the only famous name to have snapped up Irish property

Many people were surprised when Rod Stewart popped into famous Dublin pub The Gravediggers last week on a pitstop to Glasnevin Cemetery. Rod the Mod didn’t have a gig on in Dublin - so what was he doing here?

Well, it turns out that Stewart actually owns a home in Dublin - Ballsbridge, to be exact - and is a regular visitor to our shores.

Obviously he’s not the only famous non-Irish musician who’s bought or rented property in Ireland, but below are a few that you might be surprised to hear about…

JERRY LEE LEWIS

It sounds like the precursor to a joke: ‘Did you hear about the time Jerry Lee Lewis lived in Foxrock?’ But nevertheless, it’s true: the rock ‘n’ roll icon known as The Killer moved his family to a home on Westminster Road in the south Dublin suburb in the early 1990s, while having a few issues with tax in his native US. His then-wife Kerrie posted a fond memory of the time on Facebook, saying: “We lived in a cul-de-sac and it was all families with kids and it was perfect for us.”

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MORRISSEY 

The former frontman of The Smiths is a regular visitor to Ireland and celebrates his Irish roots, as his father and late mother were both from Crumlin in Dublin. However, he has lived in Dublin over the years, too: in his autobiography, he speaks about owning a city centre apartment and parking his car in a garage on Lad Lane, while he famously owned Wellfield House in Balgriffin (on the Malahide Road) for a period, too. 

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RONNIE WOOD

Alright, so maybe this is not such a surprise as most people know that a Rolling Stone once called Ireland his home. Bassist Ronnie Wood has lived at Sandymount House near Clane, Co. Kildare since the early 1990s, and the band even worked on their 1993 album ‘Voodoo Lounge’ at the palatial pad.

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CHRIS WOLSTENHOLME (MUSE)

What is it about Foxrock? For a time in the mid-noughties, Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme lived in the Dublin suburb with his then-wife and kids - and his son Alfie even played for local soccer team Cabinteely FC.

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ROBERT SMITH

If you were a Cure-head in the late 1980s - when the band were at their peak - you probably would have thought you were dreaming if you spotted Robert Smith wandering around Dalkey. However, the band’s frontman apparently spent 18 months living in South County Dublin, as he told Hot Press a few years back. “I came over in 1986 for a few weeks’ break and ended up spending a year-and-a-half there,” he said. “I rented a cottage just outside Dalkey – it’s beautiful down there. I used to walk back along the DART line, that’s the only way I could find my way around. I went to Ireland on holiday a lot when I was very young because of my grandparents’ family connections. I was reconnecting with that.”

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MIKE SCOTT

The Waterboys have always had a strong connection with Ireland, ever since they recorded their famous album ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ in Galway in 1988. However, frontman Mike Scott can regularly be spotted wandering around Dublin today, as he has lived in the capital since 2008. “[It’s] a creative city, and I like that,” he told The Scottish Herald. “It’s good for my songwriting. After I left Dublin the first time, in 1991, after six years there, I always wanted to return. I finally got back in 2008 and have now lived there longer than the first time. I also like the size of the city – not too small, not too big – and that lots of people know me, but they don’t impose on me.”

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MARK LANEGAN

The rock legend, who only recently sadly passed away, had been an Irish resident for several years prior to his death. Best known as frontman of Screaming Trees and a collaborator with everyone from Queens of the Stone Age to Kurt Cobain and Moby, Lanegan moved from Los Angeles to Killarney, Co. Kerry in 2020.