Christy Dignam and Billy McGuinness discuss their passion for music writing songs for Aslan and voice training.
Aslan often described as the hardest-working band in Ireland are celebrating thirty years in the music business.
Singer Christy Dignam formed the band in 1982 with Billy McGuinness, Joe Jewell, Alan Downey and Rodney O'Brien. Their single 'This Is’ was some time in the making explains Christy Dignam.
We knew the lyrics were good and the verses but the chorus was desperate. So we slowed the whole thing down.
The end result was a hugely popular hit and became the most-played song on pop music station 2FM in 1986, beating contenders U2, Clannad and Christy Moore.
Music was a constant for Christy Dignam at home in Finglas growing up, and he inherited his father’s love for opera and singing.
He’d put on his Caruso albums, Mario Lanza...was a huge fan of John McCormack.
Christy Dignam and Billy McGuinness attended singing lessons in the 1980s with Frank Merriman, who taught bel canto, the technique of Italian opera singing that was popular in the nineteenth century.
Money was tight for full-time musicians who were on the dole. Frank Merriman waived his fee allowing them to take the places of students who did not show up on the day, as according to Billy McGuinness,
He knew we were serious about music.
This episode of ‘For One Night Only...Aslan’ was broadcast on 24 August 2012. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
'For One Night Only...' was an entertainment series filmed in front of a live studio audience. Host Gay Byrne interviewed well-known guest musicians and bands from the Irish music scene about their lives and careers.
First broadcast on 13 December 2010 on RTÉ One, it comprised sixteen programmes. Mainly aired during the summer months it also featured in the television Christmas schedules.
