Remembering Christie

Music with Eddie Rowley

CHRISTIE Hennessy, one of Ireland’s most loved performers and songwriters, continues to live on through the music he left us upon his death in December 2007.

“We miss our dad every day,” says his daughter Hermione, who has been protecting and promoting Christie’s legacy with her siblings, Tim and Amber.

Family always mattered hugely to Christie, and Hermione, Tim and Amber were all singers and musicians who loved the creative interplay with him. Hermione says of her father’s music and performances: “He took people on an emotional journey — from every high of happiness, through great, side-splitting laughter, to every touching piece of sadness...but always with a sense of possibility and renewal.” The latest project given the blessing of Christie’s children is a new album called The Last Goodbye, a collection of the Hennessy’s beautifully crafted hits, re-recorded with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

With a release date of November 5, it presents Christie’s unique vocals accompanied by the 45-piece orchestra. And it includes two beautiful duets with Hermione on ‘Every Time A Star Falls’ and ‘If You Were To Fall (And I Was To Fall In Love With You)’.

The 10 tracks include the timeless version of ‘Messenger Boy’ sung in that unique delicate Kerry voice taken from his first ever LP.

‘Oh Jealous Heart’ and ‘Soho Square’ both get new treatment with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra creating effortless and exhilarating accompaniment.

The record also features ‘Remember Me’ and the country influenced ‘ All The Lies That You Told Me’ — a huge hit single for Frances Black.

Gavin Maloney, who conducted the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, teamed up with Christie’s son, Tim, as orchestrator, producer and mix engineer for the album.