Arena radio review: Friends and peers recall how there was nothing small about Christy Dignam

Sixty-three: it’s a horribly young age to go, notwithstanding Christy’s serious health problems over the last decade and more. It’s hard to believe, in some ways: the cool, handsome young guy, with the classic rocker look and huge voice that blew the roof off the late 1980s on Aslan’s debut album Feel No Shame, is with us no more.

I was lucky enough to get to interview Christy a few times down the years — he was every bit as friendly, upbeat and sound as you’d expect —but obviously couldn’t claim to know him, unlike musical contemporaries Tom Dunne and Jerry Fish (lead singers with Something Happens and An Emotional Fish respectively), who spoke to the show.

Everyone felt “an immediate air of shock,” Seán said, “despite the fact we knew it was coming.” Tom concurred: “I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me when I heard. It’s just awful. He was one of the voices of our generation and [Aslan were] one of the great Irish bands.”

Jerry recalled how virtually everyone “was in a band back then, all chasing a record deal, chasing stardom. It was a wonderful time, and it’s devastating to think now that we’ve lost someone so special.

“But at least we realised, during Christy’s lifetime, that he was special. He was very down-to-earth, he’d talk to anyone and you could hear his passion in the way he sang those songs.”

It was a life fully lived, the host suggested, “with a lot of fun along the way”.

Tom laughed as he replied: “Christy was an incredible messer — all of Aslan are. There was a real sense of devilment about him that you had to be wary of. But his gift was singing, and he had it his whole life. I remember how, to impress [his wife] Kathryn when they started going out, he’d sing to her in a field.”

“Who could resist?” Seán responded.

Journalist Pat Carty also joined the programme, recalling how Christy was “the first rockstar” he ever met. This was in Shinrone, Co Offaly, back in the day, when Aslan were on one of their earliest Irish tours.

“I hitchhiked over from Tullamore with my girlfriend,” Pat said, “stood up the front and sang along to every line. Then I went over to Christy after the gig and he just couldn’t have been nicer. And he looked the part. No disrespect to Tom or Jerry, but Christy was beautiful-looking.”

But it was all about that great, instantly recognisable voice. Pat went on, “His voice was amazing. A song like This Is, to create an anthem like that — it’s phenomenal.”

They played a few snippets from a live recording of This Is and it was spine-tingling.

Pat concluded: “Christy was asked in an interview a while back how he’d like to be remembered.

“He said, ‘As a singer and songwriter in Ireland, if I helped elevate the quality of music in this country in some small way, I’d be happy enough with that.’ I’d just add to that, there was nothing small about Christy Dignam, at all.”