Carry on Tony Christie

Tony Christie pays homage to his Mayo roots with a new album, writes Ed Power

THE MANTLE of musical elder statesman rests easily on the shoulders of Tony Christie. When I meet the ‘Is This The Way To Amarillo’ singer backstage at Dublin’s Bord Gais Energy Theatre, he is chatty and mild-mannered. Seven decades in the business have provisioned him with an endless store of anecdotes. But he is notably free of ego and seems happiest reminiscing about those who have crossed his path rather than burnishing his own legend.

“I remember when Peter Kay invited me down to do the video for Amarillo,” he says, referring to the 2005 chart-topping re-release of his best-loved song, originally a hit in 1971. “It was over in one take. I was like — is that it? And they said, ‘yes thank you’. It was done in an afternoon and then I went back on tour. I didn’t give it a second thought.”