In tonight's emotionally charged episode of Keys To My Life, singer Sandy Kelly opens up about being sent to live with her "very strict" grandmother as a child, taking part in Eurovision, losing her sister Barbara and working alongside Johnny Cash.
Irish country star Sandy Kelly takes a trip down memory lane in the latest episode of the new series of Keys To My Life, the RTÉ show in which presenter Brendan Courtney meets Irish personalities who reveal how the places they've lived in have shaped their lives.
The music legend revisits her nomadic childhood on-the-road with her family's Travelling Theatre Show in Co Sligo, where she first took to the stage at the age of three.
As her ninth birthday approached, her joyful, nomadic lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when Sandy was sent to live with her grandmother in Ballintogher, Co Sligo.
"I was sent here to my very strict grandmother to get an education and she was trying to knock the showbusiness out of me. As you can see, she failed miserably," Kelly laughs.
Entering the house brings back a lot of memories.
"I feel emotional. I'll be honest, I have good memories of here, and I have bad memories from here," she says. "We used to come visit granny all the time. This one time we came to visit, and they didn't tell me they were going to leave me.
"One of the bad memories I have is looking out the window and seeing the taillights of my father's car driving away and just leaving me here. I loved my grandmother, but that was a bit traumatic, I think, for a child."
She continues: "My grandmother, although a very good woman, she was a very tough woman. She wasn't the kind of grandmother who would hug you, she [would say], 'Straighten yourself up, you're not going to be singing anymore, you're going to start going to school and church.'
"When I walked into the school, because I was from a totally different culture, I was like an alien."
Courtney asks Kelly what it was like representing Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1982 with her act The Duskeys. What should have been a triumphant moment for Kelly was overshadowed by worry, as her infant daughter Barbara was in hospital recuperating from brain surgery.
"It was fabulous, but I didn't want to go because Barbara was still in hospital, she'd had surgery," Kelly says.
"So everybody got around me and said, 'You're representing your country, this is a big thing.' So off I went to Eurovision.
"The press got hold of the fact that Barbara was in hospital. Of course, all of the interviews were about, 'Will you be ok?' and 'Will this put you off your performance?'"
"I kind of felt, why was I there? What was my priority here? I was in the moment, so I was going to do my best."
In the show, the singer also speaks about coming into the orbit of country music legend Johnny Cash, who she says changed her life.
"Because I'd changed from pop music to country music, a lot of my peers and the fans didn't accept me," she explains.
"But when Johnny Cash took me under his wing and then invited me to come work with him, tour with him, record with him, that gave me a whole new sense of confidence.
"I miss him. He was one in a million."
Kelly also speaks about the heartbreaking loss of her sister Barbara.
"There were times when she struggled with mental illness and it went undiagnosed. And that makes me very sad because she could have gotten help and she should still be here, in this house. My heart is broken," she tells Courtney.
When the presenter says Kelly's life has had its fair share of tragedy, she replies: "It has, but who hasn't had troubles and tragedy? It's how you cope with it and how you carry on."
Keys To My Life airs on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 8:30pm on Sunday nights.
