Mother’s plea to drop suicide lyrics for Dublin concert

A HEARTBROKEN mother who lost her daughter to suicide has pleaded with an American pop artist not to sing his hit song, which repeatedly mentions suicide, during his upcoming Dublin and Cork concerts.

Teresa Williams, from Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, succeeded in persuading several Irish radio stations to remove Sean Kingston’s No 1 hit Beautiful Girls from their playlists last September.

Ms Williams said she would be happy if Sean Kingston sang the edited version that replaces “suicide” with “in denial” when he comes to Ireland later this month.

Her only daughter, Mary, 21, committed suicide in March 2006 and she is worried that the original version of Beautiful Girls could spark the idea of suicide in the minds of vulnerable young people.

Ms Williams has also threatened to stage a protest outside the two concert venues if she fails to get an assurance from the concert promoter that the original hit song will not be performed.

“I do not want anyone to go through what I went through,” said Ms Williams, who pointed out that most suicides are in the 17 to 24 age bracket.

“Music is a powerful aid to self-expression and socialisation. It can evoke different moods and feelings,” she said.

The reggae-influenced teenage musician is due to perform at the Tripod in Dublin on February 16 and at Cork Opera House the following day.

Ms Williams said she telephoned concert promoter Declan Forde to express her concern about the original version of Beautiful Girls being used on January 26 last.

Mr Forde confirmed yesterday that he had passed on Ms Williams’ request to an agent acting for Mr Kingston in the US but said he had also asked her to express her concern in writing.

“I said it would be more effective if we had it in writing so we could forward it on to the artist but she has not done that,” Mr Forde said yesterday.

Ms Williams, however, denied that Mr Forde had asked her to put her request in writing and stated that she had been waiting for him to get back to her.

Last month she complained to RTÉ about using the original version of Beautiful Girls to promote the launch of a new series of Desperate Housewives.