Imelda making it a May special
Support grows for Rock Against Homelessness event
Imelda May and Dermot Kennedy (right) are set to headline this year’s Rock Against Homelessness event.
The special charity concert in Dublin also boasts Wyvern Lingo, Jack O’rourke, Loah, Paula Meehan and MC Tara Flynn will join the High Hopes Choir in the line up for the gig on May 13 at the Olympia Theatre.
They will be joined by some very special guests, yet to be announced. Last month Dublin singer Imelda, 43, told how she was heavily influenced by Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry growing up.
“I thought she was phenomenal. And then to learn that she wrote so many of them songs… I just think she’s a genius, as are Chrissie Hynde and Annie Lennox.
Imelda admitted she was also into the likes of other massive female singers such as Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Big Mama Thornton.
“I never got taught in the formal way, so I’d listen to records, sing along and copy them,” she told Teamrock.
“I mean, how did Ella Fitzgerald do all those little notes in-between the other notes, all those twists and swoops and sighs. I needed to know how she did that, and figure it out, and that was how I educated myself.”
The Johnny Got a Boom
Boom hitmaker said that, with production being the exception, she has seen a huge difference in the amount of women working behind the scenes in the music industry.
“The only place I find no women at all – or very few – is in producing. I know that Kate Bush produced her own albums, but there’s not many.”
She added: “I’ve produced my own albums, and I want to get more into production. I think it’s high time these things were addressed. When it comes to women in music, it seems we are at least a decade behind. There’s a lot of creative people out there and it shouldn’t matter whether they are male or female.”
Rock Against Homelessness is running for a third year in a row in response to the everworsening homelessness crisis in Ireland.
It follows on from last year’s event which featured turns by Hamsandwich, Finbar Furey, The Blizzards, Delorentos, Paul Cleary, Ivy Nations and August Wells among others.
Funds raised from that show allowed Focus Ireland to support hundreds of families in securing a home and leaving homelessness behind.
Tickets priced from €35 are available from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.