Tralee honours ‘gracious’ singer Christie

A KERRYMAN who brought joy and laughter to millions was honoured in his home town of Tralee on Saturday.

Upwards of 1,000 people turned out for the unveiling of an €80,000 bronze monument to the late singer-songwriter Christie Hennessy, who died two years ago at the age of 62.

Singer Christy Moore, who recorded some of Hennessy’s songs, notably Don’t Forget Your Shovel, described him as one of the most generous songwriters he ever knew.

“He was most gracious and helpful with his songs and was the kindest, warmest, most beautiful man I ever encountered,” said Moore. “When we first met in 1969 I recognised a kindred spirit. We used to talk a lot on the phone over the years. Whenever he’d be in Dublin he’d come to hear me singing and when I’d go to London I’d go to hear him.”

Also present were Hennessy’s widow Gill, children Tim, Hermione and Amber and the star’s brothers, Jimmy and Oliver.

Gill, who performed the unveiling in the square with Christy Moore, said the depth of kindness in her late husband’s nature endeared him to all who met him. He had a magical way of projecting happiness from the stage to the audience, she said.

“As a shy, unassuming person, he was not at all convinced of his own creative and musical gifts,” she added.

“He tried his best with the situation that life dealt him and he always smiled, even through the hardest times.

“He would never have believed today’s event was possible. It would be difficult for him to comprehend the high regard held for him by the people of Tralee,” she remarked.

The life-size statue by Devon sculptor Nicholas Dimbleby was commissioned by Tralee Town Council following an international design competition, with entries coming from as far away as India.

Tralee deputy mayor Mairead Fernane said Hennessy was a great ambassador for his home town and the event was a bitter-sweet day for all who knew and loved him.

He worked hard for all his achievements and nothing was handed to him on a platter, she said.

“Christie received so much acclaim for his singing and yet he was such a humble man that he never really understood why he received it,” Ms Fernane went on.

“He had such a hard road reaching his goal that he never really realised that he had got there.”

It is now planned to hold an annual Christie Hennessy musical weekend in Tralee.

One of a family of nine children, he lost his father at the age of five and left school when he just 11 to work as a messenger boy in Tralee. Unable to read or write due to dyslexia, he emigrated to England at the age of 15.

He spent most of his life in Britain, recording the first of several platinum-selling albums in 1972.

Saturday’s unveiling was an emotional occasion, laced with humour. Gill told the crowd Christie would have been cracking jokes and as for the statue, she said he might have quipped: “Jeez, I made a grand pigeon seat… mind the old guitar now lads!”