Eric was born in Cork City in the Republic of Ireland . He Studied at the local Munivipal School with Frank Lacey and later at University College Cork, before taking a post-graduate course in trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Sidney Ellison. Eric worked with the Radio Telefis Éireann Symphony Orchestra in Dublin and the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra before coming to Glasgow in 1979 to join the BBC Scottish Symphonic Orchestra.
Eric has played with many of the leading British orchestras and under some wonderful conductors, including Gunter Wand, Mariss Jansens, Simenov Sinaisky, Nello Santi, Alexander Gibson, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Ilan Volkov. He enjoys working with some fine young musicians at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama Junior Department, where he studied conducting with Martyn Brabbins. For the past five years Eric has conducted for us and he became conductor of St James Orchestra in in Paisley in 2002.