Christy Moore has opened up about the loss of his father, and how it still impacts him decades later.
The musician was just eleven years old when he and his five siblings lost their dad, but he admits that it wasn’t until he became a parent himself that it really struck him.
“I was driving down the road one day and my eleven-year-old son was in the back seat of the car and I looked in the mirror and I saw him and suddenly it dawned on me the effect it would have on him now at this moment, if he was told what I was told when I was eleven. And it really hit home. That thing hit home to me that day, even though it was many, many years on.”
“It was a shocking experience and it affected us all in different ways and I believe all six of us are still affected by it, you know, by the impact that had on our lives,” he said.
He says the awareness of his mother’s struggle as a lone parent with six children helped him realise the need for greater understanding and support for people in need.
“You know, I was blessed to grow up in a strong family environment and even though we lost our daddy when I was eleven and the eldest of six and the family was shattered by that, we still grew up in a loving, caring environment, you know. And unfortunately, not everybody has that privilege.”
The Beeswing singer has been sober now for over twenty-five years, and describes his sobriety as a ‘wonderful thing’.
“I know it took me a few years to come into the light. I can still remember the first time I ever walked out on stage without alcohol or any other substance and it was, for me in my life, it was quite an amazing moment cos for many years I thought I couldn’t do anything without those crutches,” he told Ruairí McKiernan’s Love and Courage podcast.
Christy is known for speaking out about issues that are important to him, including Birmingham 6, the Stardust fire families, and campaigns against fracking, racism, and other more. But the singer admits that he has even received hate mail after covering some issues in his songs.
“Ann Lovett caused a lot of hate mail, you know. Not a deluge but it certainly did rattle, you know. But that’s okay. I have to say that that doesn’t bother me. There was a time it used to scare me a bit but now it means it’s working, you know. The songs are working if people love them and hate them. They’re living. They’re alive. They’re not just meaningless.”
Speaking about politics today, the 73-year-old revealed he doesn’t agree with prioritising those ‘who get out of bed early in the morning’.
“There are many who’ve no reason to get out of bed, I suppose.” he said, adding: “People living in depression and people living in need and in want.”