My life with John Neville: 'Alopecia is the reason I became a musician'

John Neville is a singer-songwriter in Cork city

John Neville who is a singer-songwriter says he began songwriting during a period of time he lived with alopecia as a teenager. Picture by Noel Sweeney.

I never imagined that locking myself away in my bedroom, after losing my hair at 17, would lead to me becoming the musician I am today.

I had been working under the mentorship of ANCO at the time, which was the State agency responsible for industrial training in Ireland.

Today, baldness is somewhat accepted; but this was the 1970s when long hair was a defining trend for everyone from footballers to male singers the world over. Naturally, as a typically self-conscious teenager, this condition devastated me. For a teenage boy who is vulnerable and trying to find their way in the world, life is already difficult. It was okay during the day.

The machines at the facility where I was training required us to have our hair in position at all times. It meant I was (quite literally) able to keep the secret under my hat.

After work, I did what any self-conscious teenager would do and sought refuge in my bedroom — shying away from any contact with the outside world. These days, young people have social media and videogames to while away the hours. I had something much better. Although I was yet to master the guitar, it became a counsellor, friend, and my saving grace. My time was spent, hidden away learning the instrument as best I could. While I had left the world for those few months, I created new ones in my bedroom. As companions go, my guitar was as good as it gets.

Singing a song was like opening up to a friend, and it instantly helped me feel better.

The doctor was positive about my situation, so I never lost hope that my hair would come back. In the meantime, I was going to practise my singing and guitar as much as possible in preparation for that day. The hope was that I could come back stronger than before, and maybe even perform gigs.

I was grateful for the people who kept my spirits up during those difficult days.

One of my sisters, Rita, would come into me on Friday nights and give me a bit of a comb over. While the hair loss was unmistakable, it still helped a lot — in an emotional sense at least. She also cleaned my bedroom a lot to make sure that my surroundings were as pleasant as possible for the time I was there.

All the while my focus remained unwavering, I spent around four hours after dinner playing the guitar every night, listening to records, and dropping the needle down in a bid to replicate exactly what was on the album.

I made ferocious progress and that continued for about six months.

John Neville who is a singer-songwriter says he began songwriting during a period of time he lived with alopecia as a teenager. Picture by Noel Sweeney.

I’ll never forget the first signs of hair growth. That was back in April 1975, but I still remember exactly how it felt. The texture was like duck down or a fluffy baby chicken. It happened very suddenly. This was a joyous occasion for many reasons. Not only had my hair come back, but I had hours of guitar practice under my belt that I was now able to share with the world.

When I finally started to play outside of my bedroom, I was invited to come and join a gig with the Leahy brothers: Sean, Steve, and Ger.

They were a popular act at the time, so I was delighted when they asked me to fall in with them. I was finally reaping the rewards of all that time spent in my bedroom.

In an ironic way, alopecia had made it all possible.

To this day, I never quite got to the root of what caused the condition.

It may have been down to the hats I had to wear at the time as part of my apprenticeship, or it may have cut deeper than that.

Truth be told, I had suffered a great deal of trauma in my life which was addressed through songs I penned in my 20s and 30s. This was probably most notable in my song The Wobbling Man, which was based on my experiences of growing up with an alcoholic parent.

John Neville who is a singer-songwriter says he began songwriting during a period of time he lived with alopecia as a teenager. Picture by Noel Sweeney.

As a child, you can’t put your finger on it but you know there is a problem in the house. We couldn’t bring friends home because we never knew what was waiting for us. My mother had so little at the time because my father was drinking the money we needed to survive. The song was critically acclaimed in The New York Times by the writer Jennifer Finney Boylan in her 2017 piece, Ireland’s Transition, and Mine.

I’m lucky to have three grown-up sons now whose childhoods were very different to the one I experienced. My wife Claire is a great mother, and there is always a room where their friends can stay over.

All these years later, I’m continuing to perform and write songs. The funny thing is that, even at my age, I still have a full head of hair.