The band was founded in 1962 in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin as The Ronnie Drew Folk Group.

Members of the band were or are:

Ronnie Drew (1934-2008), vocals, guitar
Luke Kelly (1940-1984), vocals, banjo
Barney McKenna (1939 -), Banjo
Ciarán Bourke (1935-1988), vocals, guitar, tin whistle
John Sheahan (1939 -), fiddle, tin whistle
Bobby Lynch (1935-1982), vocals, guitar
Jim McCann (1944 -), vocals, guitar
Seán Cannon (1940 -), vocals, guitar
Eamonn Campbell (1946 -), guitar
Paddy Reilly (1939 -), vocals, guitar
Patsy Watchorn (1944 -), vocals, banjo, bodhran

Cast 

1962-1964: Drew, Kelly, McKenna, Bourke
1964-1965: Drew, McKenna, Bourke, Lynch, Sheahan
1965-1974: Drew, Kelly, McKenna, Bourke, Sheahan (the "classic" Dubliners-cast)
1974-1979: Kelly, McKenna, Sheahan, McCann
1979-1983: Drew, Kelly, McKenna, Sheahan
1983-1988: Drew, McKenna, Sheahan, Cannon
1988-1995: Drew, McKenna, Sheahan, Cannon, Campbell
1996-2005: McKenna, Sheahan, Cannon, Campbell, Reilly
 Since 2005: McKenna, Sheahan, Cannon, Campbell, Watchorn

The change in the cast had different reasons: Some members, like Kelly, Drew, Lynch, and McCann, left the band temporarily or permanently, to pursue solo projects, while others withdrew from active music scene. Ciaran Bourke suffered in 1974 during a performance in Bournemouth a brain hemorrhage, in consequence of which he died in 1988. Luke Kelly died in 1984 from the effects of a brain tumor. Ronnie Drew died on Aug 16, 2008 of throat cancer in Dublin.

In the years from 1967 to 1974, the Dubliners, the most prominent Irish Folk Group, representing the traditional Irish music and contributed with the support of the Northern Ireland producers Fab Mc Snif worldwide popularity and the rise of the Irish Folk Music with a development that later of groups such as The Fureys, The Chieftains, The Pogues, or Clannad continued.

By Melanie Bradley