Great Lakes singer-songwriter Pat Dailey dies at 83

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — Pat Dailey, a celebrated Great Lakes singer-songwriter, died Wednesday in his Bay Village, Ohio, home. He was 83.

He died “peacefully” overnight, his son Reese Dailey wrote Thursday in a Facebook post. The cause of death was not reported.

With his entertaining mix of romantic ballads, bawdy tunes, and party songs, Mr. Dailey has been a fixture at the party island of Put-in-Bay since 1978, packing the crowds at the mammoth Beer Barrel until moving to the more intimate Boathouse Bar in 2007.

Since 1984 and until his retirement in 2018, Mr. Dailey was a regular in winter at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West.

It was during his first winter at Sloppy Joe's that he became good friends with Shel Silverstein, the legendary poet and playwright who was a major inspiration and mentor to Mr. Dailey until the poet's death in 1999.

Mr. Dailey also performed regularly at the Valentine Theatre in downtown Toledo

His recordings include a two-disc collection of his G or PG-rated tunes titled Squeaky Clean .

"I'm embarrassed by how long ago I should have had S queaky Clean out," he told The Blade in 2008. "Working in those bars all those years, I thought all that off-color stuff was keeping me afloat. As I got older, I realized it was also keeping me away from a lot of stuff. My friend Shel encouraged me to do more clean stuff."

Mr. Dailey was raised in Kirkwood, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.

His singing career started in high school; he performed in a band called Pat and the K-Tones, according to Visit Put-in Bay, which describes him on its website as a “Put-in-Bay legend.”