Christie Hennessy
The singer and songwriter was a legend who changed lives, says Frances Black
When I got the news that Christie Hennessy died last Tuesday aged 63, it came as a huge shock to me. Even though he'd been sick, I really didn't expect it, because he was such a fighter and had come through so many things in his life.
I first came across Christie in 1991, on the Liveline radio programme, and apart from the wonderful songs he sang, I was so impressed at how warm, friendly and funny he was. I became a fan at that point, and went out and bought his album.
I saw him performing in the Olympia after that, and I thought he had an amazing presence on stage and a brilliant connection with the audience, which I'd never experienced before from any artist.
Christie had a fantastic ability to paint gorgeous pictures with his songs, and the melodies were always beautiful. I loved the simplicity of his writing as well. You could relate to his songs, and put your own story into them, and that's what I loved about them.
When I was making my first solo album, I was honoured to be able to record one of his songs, All the Lies That You Told Me. It was released in Ireland, and went to number one, and I don't think anybody could have predicted how successful it would become. It was the song that changed my life as a singer in Ireland, and I'll always be indebted to Christie for that.
Many other Irish artists are grateful to Christie for the very same reason, as Christy Moore had his first number one with Don't Forget Your Shovel, and Maire Brennan had hers with Oh Jealous Heart.
Christie was exactly the same person off-stage. There were no airs and graces about him, and he was always just 100 per cent himself. He was the most gorgeous man you could ever meet in the music industry, and really humble. For somebody so amazingly brilliant, Christie didn't know what ego meant, because he didn't have one. I think he was very grateful and appreciative for everything that he had in this life.
He was the youngest of nine children from Kerry, and went to England at 15 to work on the building sites, and that was where he met his wife Jill. They have three children, Hermione, Amber and Tim, and live just outside Wimbledon. Hermione has a beautiful voice, while Amber plays the violin and Tim plays piano and saxophone. They've all worked with him, and are gorgeous kids.
Even though he was living in England, Christie's Irishness was so important to him. He loved spending time at his holiday home in Tralee, and still had the strongest Kerry accent that you could possibly imagine.
Christie was patron of the charity, Children in Crossfire, which was working on initiatives to improve the lives of children living in some of the world's poorest communities. His special focus was on their literacy programmes, because he could identify with that, as he was unable to read or write himself. He suffered from severe dyslexia, which was not picked up at school.
The charity said that he had a profound concern for children living in poverty throughout the world, and was willing to give his time and talents to raise awareness of injustices and promote change for a better future.
He went to Kenya with them, to spend time with the children in different villages, and wrote the song, A Price for Love, and donated all the proceeds to Children in Crossfire projects. I admired him for being so passionate about his charity work, and it really inspired me personally
Earlier this year, Christie was diagnosed with asbestosis, possibly picked up from his years spent working on the building sites. He was determined to keep busy, and was working on a documentary, and an album of duets with people like Christy Moore, Luka Bloom, Tommy Fleming, and my sister Mary.
I went into the studio a couple of weeks ago to record a duet with him on All the Lies. I was chuffed to have been asked to sing with him, and it was an amazing experience. While I was there, they played the song he recorded with Christy and Luka called, When Will We Learn, and you could really hear in the song how passionate he was about Children in Crossfire. It really blew me away, and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Now that Christie has gone, I really feel the loss of such a wonderful human being. He's a real loss to the country as well, because he represented us so well, and was such a huge character in the music industry. He was an absolute legend.
