Ep 40: Farrelly & Lacey with Tyne Daly from "Cagney and Lacey"

Ep 40: Farrelly & Lacey with Tyne Daly from "Cagney and Lacey"

In this episode Gearóid talks to his favourite actress of all time: Tyne Daly.

Tyne Daly is a celebrated star of stage and screen. She once dreamed of becoming a nun to the theatre, but a stint as Dirty Harry's sidekick in "The Enforcer" led to her starring opposite Loretta Switt in a tv movie of the week called "Cagney & Lacey" which was a buddy film about two women working as New York police officers. The movie turned into a series and despite some bumps and cast changes the show went on to become iconic television.

During the series run both Tyne and her co-star Sharon Gless were nominated for the Best Actress Emmy with one of them taking home the prize each season. Tyne won an unprecedented three in a row and also took another in the last season. "Cagney and Lacey" was the first time in the history of network television that an hour was turned over to tell stories about women. It is widely accepted that the show changed the way women were perceived in television.

Tyne's hasn't stopped working since. She went to Broadway and one a Tony for "Gypsy" and returned to the theatre in a string of new plays including the Pulitzer Prize winning "Rabbit Hole". Recently she starred opposite Sally Field in "Hello My Name Is Doris", the revival of ninties sitcom "Murphy Brown" and "Spiderman: Homecoming".

This interview was recorded live at the Townhall Theatre, Galway as part of the Galway Film Fleadh where Tyne was promoting her new movies "The Bread Factory Parts One and Two" Directed by Patrick Wang.

EP 39: Another Side with Celena Cherry from Honeyz

EP 39: Another Side with Celena Cherry from Honeyz

This is another side to a story we've already told but what a story this is. In this episode comedian Gearoid Farrelly chats to singer and actress Celena Cherry about her time as the front woman of 90's R&B band the Honeyz along with band members Heavenli Denton and Naima Belkhiati. The band debuted in 1998 and had a massive hit with the self-penned "Finally Found". They followed it closely with other mega-hits like "End Of The Line" and "Won't Take It Lying Down". The band struggled with internal conflict and Heavenli left just as they were about to sign a million pound deal with Def Jam records in the US, then unprecedented for a 90's girlband. 

But the deal falling apart wasn't only drama caused by the line-up change. In a bizarre move the groups management salvaged a promotional tour of Australia by adding to the lineup a lookalike of Heavenli Denton (the band member that had left) in the hope that Australian fans won't notice. Almost 20 years later fans uncovered this slight of hand in internet footage from the tour and so was born the Honeyz meme "Fake-Hev".

As heard in episode one, Mariama Goodman from the band Solid Harmonie joined the group and the hits continued. But Naima who was powerful force in the group clashed with her from day one. Eventually after eleven months Mariama and the accepted story is that the management brought Heavenli back to the group and insisted she rejoin much to the horror of Celena and Naima. But Celena explains that this isn't exactly how it actually happened. 

The Honeyz gave us some of the best RnB songs of ninties but they existed in an industry that was inherently misogynistic and unapologetically racist. 

Ep 38: The Song With Wings with Chesney Hawkes

Ep 38: The Song With Wings with Chesney Hawkes

In this episode comedian Gearoid Farrelly chats to nineties heart-throb Chesney Hawkes about the song that catapulted him to the top of the charts in 1991 and went on to become the 20th biggest selling song of the nineties. As well as reflecting on the dark days after the success had gone away Chesney also tells about his life before stardom came along

In this episode Gearoid learns Chesney was the paper boy for another 80s pop-star, that a very famous film director has featured Chesney’s song in every one of his movies and Gearoid finally gets an answer to a question that has been tormenting him…. Did Chesney Hawkes write a song about sitting at home watching porn?

Ep 37: Mariah from Clonmel with Bianca Kinane

Ep 37: Mariah from Clonmel with Bianca Kinane

Bianca Kinane is the big voiced Irish superstar that we almost had back in 1996. Bianca is from Clonmel and in 1994 took part in "Stars In Their Eyes" as Mariah Carey. A big recording contract with Pete Waterman followed. A huge media campaign promising an Irish Mariah Carey from 'County Clonmel' (sic) accompanied the release of some singles but the album never materialised. Though it was finished and ready, internal politics and budgetary problems saw the record label go bust before it's released. Bianca dusted herself off and got on with life after pop. She toured with Jools Holland and did session work. However three years later it happened all over again. She was again signed up to a big deal. She made an album, released singles and then at the eleventh hour before the albums release, the record label went into liquidation. 

Bianca continues to record vocals on many hit dance tracks and club hits and is a respected session singer in the UK. People are fascinated with her pop past and are devastated on her behalf when hear that lightening strike twice. Bianca is by no means devastated she makes a good living doing what she loves and enjoys telling the tale she calls "Do you know who I nearly was".

Ep 36: The Great Pop Caper with Daphne & Celeste

Ep 36: The Great Pop Caper with Daphne & Celeste

In 1999 Daphne and Celeste burned pop music to the ground. They arrived from New York and released their debut single “ooh Stick you” and almost instantly had a hit. But there was more to Daphne and Celeste then the kitch pop tracks. They couldn’t take their newfound pop career seriously. They were astonished by straight faced interviewers asking their favourite vegetable. They would turn cheery kid’s tv presenters to defensive grumps as they lied their way through interviews and giggled uncontrollably. Essentially they were inventing trolling.

The media cooked up controversy around their second record “U.G.L.Y” charging Daphne and Celeste with advocating bullying. The situation today would surely require media analysts or PR experts but Daphne and Celeste effortlessly batted the controversy away with eye-rolls and bored answers. It was quite spectacular.

The girls wanted to see how far they could push it which led to them booking their infamous appearance at the Reading. They ignored all advise and performed to a crowd of 50,000 furious rock fans at the Reading Festival during which they were continuously pelted with bottles food and as you will here a wheelchair.

After the breakup of Daphne and Celeste, both girls had successful acting careers. Daphne (Real Name Karen Di Concetto) is also a successful television writer (She was exec Producer of “Recovery Road” on ABC) and Celeste continues to act (she previously appeared in an episode of 30 Rock).

Recently producer Max Tundra contacted the girls about reforming and this collaboration spawned a successful album and reunion tour.

The genius of Daphne and Celeste was they didn’t pretend to be anything other then what they were, which was a flash in the pan novelty act. But weirdly it is this very self awareness that has us still talking about them 18 years later.

Ep 35: The Meaning of Life with Michelle McManus

Ep 35: The Meaning of Life with Michelle McManus

In 2003 Michelle McManus shot to fame as the winner of the second series of Pop Idol. Throughout the series she stood out for her powerhouse soul voice. But she also got huge amounts of press coverage for her weight.  

Today plus-size is celebrated, body positivity is embraced and everyone is encouraged to be who they are. In 2003 this was not the case. She was pilloried, debated, vilified and criticised every day in the media for the duration of the competition. But it never through her off course and she won with 58% of the public vote. 

You would imagine that when an audience has spoken and a winner declared that the powers that be would just accept it. But that isn’t what happened. When she was announced as the winner one of the judges stormed off the set on live television as she was about to reprise the song.

Michelle now lives back in Scotland where she works constantly as a radio and television host and of course as a singer. But there is also another side to Michelle. In 2012 she took her first one-woman show to the Edinburgh fringe and has been a sell-out success every year since. The shows are mix of comedy and cabaret and she plays every night of August to packed audiences at the Stand Comedy Club. (I saw her show last year and it was absolutely hilarious!)

Ep 34: A Strange Snowy Day with Jann Arden

Ep 34: A Strange Snowy Day with Jann Arden

In 1998 my friend Niamh Kavanagh was making an album and she recorded some cover versions of a Canadian singer songwriter Jann Arden. I then listened to Jann's orignal versions and I have been hooked ever since.

Jann Arden is a huge recording artist in Canada and had international success in 1994 with her "Living Under June" album. She has just released her 14th album "These Are The Days" and has released more than 40 singles. She has been nominated for 19 Juno awards and won 8 of them. She has contributed to movie soundtracks and is a regular on Canadian television. Leonard Cohen visited her in the studio when she was recording one of his songs and wrote to her afterwards to tell her how her version "stays with him".

Aside from music Jann has written four books and regularly appeared in challenges with TV Host Rick Mercer which caused her to become a viral sensation to a new generation of fans. Her live shows are as popular for her story-telling as for her music. She has even hosted a gala at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and is in pre-production on a sitcom.

Jann's mother is a huge fixture in her life. Her parents lived 60 meters from her on her land. A few years ago Jann's father suffered a stroke resulting in severe memory loss around the same time her mother began showing signs of Alzheimers which was diagnosed two days after her father died.

I spoke to Jann on a surprisingly snowy morning in Calgary, just 6 weeks after she had finally agreed to put her mother in a Memory Care Centre. She was dealing with the emotion of this and her mother's distraught dog. After we spoke her day became even more strange; the first chapters of James Comey's autobiography had been released and he had used a quote from her on the first page of chapter one. If you were one of the people asking "Who is Jann Arden?". Well this is the podcast that will tell you everything you need to know.

Ep 33: Happy Just To Be With Michelle Gayle

Ep 33: Happy Just To Be With Michelle Gayle

In this episode I got to meet up with 90s RnB pop goddess Michelle Gayle. But as you can see from the photo below myself and Michelle Gayle are old friends. I won a competition to meet her back in the mid-ninties and because I was under eighteen I had to bring my Dad.

Michelle was a struggling singer who became an actress and then a very successful singer. Sh appeared in Eastenders and in the space of three years released two albums and a string of top 20 singles. She was nominated for three Brit awards and then mid-way through promoting her second record which was stared off more successful than the first, she disappeared. There were rumours of her changing record labels. But fans never knew what happened until now.

She went on to star in Beauty and The Beast on the Westend becoming the first black woman to play a disney princess in the UK. After that she took part in the reality series “Reborn In The USA” where she competed with fellow ex-popstars in the US for a new record contract. The series ended up being a lot more then what they had signed up to and despite the very bizarre circumstances Michelle ended up in the final.

Michelle has written three novels and is currently touring in “Son Of A Preacher Man”. She will be performing in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre with the show from 22nd to 26th May.

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