Right time for Tabby
FOLLOWING A NEAR DECADE LONG HIATUS FROM THE PROFESSIONAL MUSIC SCENE, SLIGO SINGER TABBY CALLAGHAN TELLS REPORTER JESSICA FARRY THAT HE IS READY TO RELAUNCH HIS MUSIC CAREER.
Tabby Callaghan’s lifelong dedication to the Sligo music scene means that his face is well known in many circles across the county.
His 2004 spell on UK singing talent show ‘ The X Factor’ broadened not only his fanbase, but his contacts circles too.
And now, 13 years since he was mentored by Sharon Osborne on the show, Tabby is ready to relaunch his career.
Gone is the red highlights and the rocker hairstyle, the eyeliner too has taken a backseat. Tabby feels he is re- branding himself in some ways.
Fresh from a spell in the UK, where he played four huge gigs with the Young Voices choir, Tabby feels it’s the right time to get his name back out there.
He has been involved with the largest school choir concerts in the world for some time now.
Having this month played in front of crowds of over 20,000, the time for a return is now.
“It was exactly the foot in the door I needed in the UK. My social media went nuts when I was there,” he told The Sligo Champion.
“It’s the perfect thing to relaunch me back over in the UK. It’s solid. Like I’ve been doing bits and bobs here but I had a legit fanbase over there and I’m sort of re- branding myself now.
“The version of me that everyone saw was really the TV version of me. No- one really got to see that there’s more depth to me.
He continued: “You know on the show I was kind of packaged with Sharon Osborne, and I kind of looked like a little Osborne but that’s how I looked back then.”
Playing his part in the Young Voices shows in Dublin in recent years, Tabby grew close with the organisers.
So much so that last year he was invited to the Royal Albert Hall for the event. This year, he got to pit his wits against some of the UK’s elite musical talents.
“We’re doing a charity single, and that’s going to be launched in the next week or two, ‘ Lost for a Day’.
“All proceeds from that are going to a music therapy charity ‘ Nordoff Robins’.” The opportunity to participateparticipa in such an event is something that he says he will be eternally grateful for. “It was absolutely amazing. There was about 22,000 people a night at the gigs. It was monstrous. I came back Sunday then and played in McGarrigle’s, which was very different but I absolutely love that too.
“One of the girls who was singing with us was singing with Basement Jaxx, it was incredible.
“I’m working with some really great people now too. One of the sound guys was working for Led Zepplin and he was doing sound at the Brits last week too.”
His bigger work opportunities have largely come from the UK market, and he concedes it’s a shame that he has to go away to get these chances.
“You’re working with the elite of the elite here. It’s just a pity I have to go away for it. We’re working on a second single and possible UK shows. It’s just a different buzz over there. It’s amazing the reaction I get over there. There are so many Sligo people over there and I got them tickets and got them to come along.
“It’s amazing when you’re away, it’s so good to see people from your hometown coming to support you,” he said.
Even all these years later, the references to his spell on the X Factor don’t bother him.
It’s something that catapulted his career.
“At the end of the day the X Factor is a reference point for people. They come to see me play because they remember me from that. With these shows you might have a 15 piece band and maybe 7- 8000 children in the choir.”
And now that he works independently and of his own accord, he feels that people will get a chance to see the real Tabby now.
“It’s an opportunity to show what I do. Obviously on the show before people only get a sliver of you and what you’re about. So I’m really pushing this again. I want people to see the real me now.
“I like the way I’m doing things now. I’m working independently in my own time and it’s all up to myself.”
Sligo is renowned for its wealth of musical talents. Tabby is just one of the many people in the county who put their heart and soul into growing our music scene.
“Any break I’ve ever got has been abroad. Often it’s the people who are playing music here in Sligo who are the engine behind the music scene here.
“The talent we have here in Sligo is phenomenal. We play a session on Sundays where people are allowed to come in and just get up on stage.
“It’s an ego free zone. I love that in Sligo. We just do what we do. I think maybe some organising classes for festivals aren’t fully aware of the musical talents that we have here in Sligo. But these things will take over. The gigs still happen and the crowds still come, that’s what makes it so special,” he said.
He added: “I mean you look at the jazz scene here in Sligo, Eddie Lee has done a fantastic job. You have Kieran Quinn as well. Sligo doesn’t have the infrastructure, it relies on culture and these people are the engines behind the culture here.”
Music can be frustrating at times for Tabby, but there’s nothing else he would rather do. Staying relevant and popular though, is key, and with that he must be willing to be versatile.
“I fall in and out of love with music everyday, it’s like a marriage! But this is what I’ve done my entire life and there’s not many people who can say they’ve done it since they were six. It’s too late for me to be getting fed up with it. You have to be in it for the right reasons, you have to have a certain curiosity about it. I’ve been trying loads of different styles.”
But now that he has got a taste for the professional aspect of it again, Tabby promises that there is more to come.
“I do have plans for the year ahead. I’m going to try release a couple of singles and build on that. I took a break professionally for eight or nine years, and just didn’t want the pressure. But I’m ready now to do something again.”
The charity single, ‘ Lost For a Day’ will be available from iTunes in the coming days.
I’M SORT OF REBRANDING MYSELF NOW. I WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THAT THERE’S MORE TO ME.