The late singer and entertainer Sonny Knowles would have welcomed a high-profile duet, were it to happen, as he told the RTÉ Guide back in 1995.
Talking to Paddy Kehoe at his home in the Dublin suburb of Perrystown, the singer was visibly enthusiastic about duetting with other performers. He had no problem with the marketing aspect of it, the putting together of unlikely musical pairings by record companies, which did not always yield passable results. Tony Bennett was regenerating his career through just such a ploy at the time, but his duet with Dinosaur jnr had not made it on the album, probably for very good reasons.
"It's marketing but it'd be flattering to be asked, " said Sonny. "I couldn't be more flattered if the Chieftains came along and asked me to sing a song, or if U2 came along I'd do a back-flip! It probably won't ever happen but if it did, I would be knocked out with flattery. Oh indeed I would, I'd be over the moon - so write that down."
Yet the charismatic singer was certainly content with his working life - he was doing a regular Thursday night gig in hotel lounge in Courtown through that summer and there were gigs coming up in Mosney, Kilkee, Sligo and Wicklow. He was performing with Paud Griffin who he described as "a walking orchestra."
There was no fixed set-list. "Every programme is different. You'll start off the same way, three or four things to break the ice, usually a Max Bygraves selection. Them maybe a little quickstep on the saxophone. Then we look around and see what's next, and Paudie might come up with a couple of waltzes.
"If they get out for the waltzes, then you've won. The waltz is a great door-opener."
The previous year, 1994, Sonny had played two nights at the National Concert Hall with Michael Casey on the organ.
"Those gigs were terrific to do, but the people who went there were the people who go to these venues that I play at. So I was on a winner, they were shouting up from the audience at me and I was shouting back. No matter what I said they felt free to say something back up at me.
"They were my friends and busload of my neighbours went from here. We sold it very well, and I was delighted at actually having done it. I had wondered could I do it, and it worked, I got away with it."
He had already at that point been 40 years in the music business and still living in the home he loved most. "When I married, I moved in here and the only way I'll go out is feet first."
Sonny had no outstanding ambitions, the celebrity duet idea was brought up by the interviewer, after all. "I'll just keep going as I am, health is all I want. I have no ambitions but to keep going until I'm not able to go."
Sonny Knowles died peacefully, at the age of 86, at his home on Thursday morning last.
