In 1958, after he had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances, and while he was still at the peak of his career, the British tax authorities began to make substantial demands that Locke declined to meet. Eventually he fled the country for Ireland, where he lay low for several years. When his differences with the tax people were eventually settled, Locke retired to County Kildare, emerging for the occasional charity concert and reappearing in Blackpool in 1968. He later appeared on British and Irish television and in 1982 was given a lengthy tribute on Gay Byrne's The Late Late Show.
Hear my Song
The Josef Locke memorial in Derry
In 1991, the Peter Chelsom film Hear My Song was released. It is a fantasy based on the notion of Locke returning from his Irish exile in the 1970s to complete an old love affair, and save a Liverpool-based Irish night-club from ruination. Locke is played by Ned Beatty.