James L. Dooley, longtime River Forest resident, and founder of the popular Chicago-area musical group, The Dooley Band, died peacefully at his home on Aug. 8, 2025 surrounded by his family after a heroic, 16-month battle with stage 4 colon cancer.
Born and raised in River Forest, he attended St. Luke School, Fenwick High School, Loyola University and Roosevelt University.
Tom and Avis Dooley (nee McMullin) raised their family of six sons, Tom, Dennis, Joe, Bill, Jim and Mike, in the River Forest house that the family has occupied since 1909. Jim and his wife Anna raised their own family there and remain active members of St. Luke and St. Bernardine Parish.
A talented musician, vocalist, guitarist, arranger, and prolific songwriter, poet, artist, and nature photographer, he formed the original Dooley musical group with his brothers in 1966, and the band has given thousands of performances, a Chicago-area institution for six decades.
He was born into a musical and artistic family. His maternal grandfather performed Irish music hall ballads on Lake Michigan cruise ships and at Strening’s Saloon on the near Southwest Side of Chicago. His paternal grandfather was a popular fiddler from County Clare, Ireland, who settled in the Chicago area.
He started out singing at home with his brothers, harmonizing and recording the popular doo-wop songs of the 1950s on a Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder that their father had given them on Christmas Day, 1956. Sometimes he and his brothers would hurry home from grammar school during the lunch hour to make these recordings. Appreciating all kinds of music, they moved on to harmonizing barbershop quartet music and the songs of the Kingston Trio and other folk music artists of the day. During his high school days, he fronted a rock band with some friends called “The Group Incorporated” playing ’60s popular songs at local high school dances in the Oak Park area.
In 1966, he and his brothers, Joe and Bill, founded “The Dooley Boys” and started playing at colleges and various coffeehouses and nightclubs, especially in the Old Town and Rush Street areas. A few years later, their youngest brother Mike joined the group and the four became known as “The Dooley Brothers.”
In the 1970s and 1980s the band performed regularly at music clubs on Chicago’s North Side, including The Roxy, The Barbarossa, The Bulls, Wise Fools Pub, Orphans, Ratso’s, Holsteins, The Earl of Old Town, Somebody Else’s Troubles and (one of their favorites) The Kilkenny Castle Inn. Another regular spot was the Irish American Heritage Center, since the center opened in 1985.
They played at FitzGerald’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration in Berwyn for the 40th time this past March, along with Healy’s, Molly Malone’s and Goldyburgers in Forest Park. The band held many concert appearances at Scoville Park in Oak Park, various River Forest outdoor park venues and the River Forest Public Library.
The brothers were featured on the television show “Nightclubbing” on PBS Channel 11; King Richard’s Renaissance Faire in the 1970s; the house band for Marshall Field’s State Street store at Christmas; and spent summers performing in the pubs of County Clare, Ireland while staying at their cousin’s farm.
In recent years, some “next generation” Dooley family members joined the band, including Jim’s late son Jimmy, who played with the band from 2015 through 2018. Mike’s son, Mick, joined up in 2015 and Jim’s daughter, Claire, started singing with the band in 2020.
They recorded critically-acclaimed albums and CDs, including A Place in My Heart (1983), which features his original compositions. Subsequent CD albums were The Road to Lisdoonvarna, Glad Magic, Black Sunshine and a new album Jim and the band just completed recording, which will be released in the coming months.
Jim was self-taught and learned music by his keen ear. He would play guitar and sing at home for hours just for the sheer pleasure of it. He could hear a song once and sing it or play it on his guitar.
One of his special interests was the history of River Forest. He was working on a short book called The Hidden Passageways of River Forest, which mostly highlighted his favorite hidden walking and biking paths, special places, and stories of the village that he so loved.
He adored Thatcher Woods, which inspired songs and poetry, and where he enjoyed many precious moments with Anna, Jimmy, and Claire. He took many nature photos there, some of which are featured in the book Trailside Museum: The Legend of Virginia Moe by Jane Morocco, part of the “Images of America” series.
He was also the unofficial historical archivist for St. Luke Church.
Jim Dooley was inspired by River Forest, and left his legacy with his uplifting words, acts of kindness, and profound music.
A Celebration of Life service is set for Saturday, Oct. 18, at St. Luke Church in River Forest. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. in the church, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m.