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Still a long way to go .jpg) Irish
singer TOMMY FLEMING is this week preparing for a nationwide tour that
will see him woo British audiences with his powerful and unique mix of
traditional yet contemporary ballads.
The Sligo man spoke to Martin Doyle about how a horrific car crash changed
his life for the better and how the best is yet to come.
When Tommy Fleming takes to the stage with his band at St. Kentigern’s
in Manchester as part of his first British tour, it will be a bit like
the All-Ireland football champions togging out up the road at Fallowfield.
For in Ireland Fleming is a superstar whose albums top the charts and
whose concerts sell out the biggest venues.
Since being spotted by Phil Coulter singing in a marquee in Westport,
Co. Mayo in his early 20s, he has toured the world, first with Coulter
and then with De Dannan.
He later carved out a successful solo career, culminating in the phenomenally
successful Voice Of Hope, which was recorded live with an orchestra and
star guests at Knock Basilica in front of 4,000 people and broadcast in
America by PBS.
It was the No. 1-selling CD and No. 2-selling DVD in Ireland in 2005.
But Fleming has also survived some terrible misfortunes: A horrific car
crash in 1998 in which he broke his neck and a disastrous recording contract
in 1996 which left him broke.
He walked away from the crash minutes before his car caught fire but ended
up in the Mater Hospital with a metal brace drilled into his skull.
Fleming, flame-haired and funny with an infectious laugh, has no qualms
about singing before 200 people again instead of 2,000.
He said: “You need to educate the public. They don’t know
who I am. There’s no such thing as an overnight success.
“I’ll keep building it up till I get to the Royal Albert Hall,
that’s my aim.”
Fleming, whose repertoire ranges from traditional Irish to contemporary
ballads and rock songs, possesses an impressive voice and charismatic
presence.
He also believes in giving value for money.
He said: “A promoter once complained to me that I do too long of
a show, but people are paying ?35 and upwards to be entertained, they
don’t want to get 60 minutes.
“I want people walking out that door saying that it was amazing,
well worth ?35. I’m not happy until I get the people standing up
at the end.
“My show lasts two hours and 10 minutes, with the encore.
“My wife is trying to get me to cut it back — not that I’m
old, I’m 36 — but I could do it when I was 25 no problem.
“Now after 15 shows on the trot you’re a bit of a wreck.”
The singer learnt his stagecraft from two very different masters.
He said: “Working with Phil Coulter was very regimented and full
of rules. He’s from a concert background.
“Working with De Dannan was completely the opposite, they’re
from a session background.
“Phil would have the tie, the lads would walk on in a pair of jeans.
I always disagreed with that end of it, as to me that’s disrespectful
of the audience.
“But I wouldn’t be keen on the bow ties. I found a happy medium.”
Coulter introduced Fleming, still a pub singer, to the big stage and the
world stage.
He said: “Phil saw me play in a marquee in Westport in June ’93.
A month later I was in the Concert Hall in Dublin and Cork Opera House
with him.
“I’d gone from playing in pubs to six months later playing
in Carnegie Hall.”
The following January, after Eleanor Shanley left De Dannan, Fleming followed
in the high-heeled footsteps of Mary Black, Dolores Keane and Maura O’Connell
and became the top trad group’s singer.
He said: “I jumped at the chance. I was 22, I had such self-confidence
it was unbelievable, more than I do now. I met them at the Royal Concert
Hall in Glasgow.
“We’d never rehearsed but luckily I’d listened to their
albums, so we took Mary and Dolores’ songs, brought the keys down
and sang them for two weeks until we got our own stuff.”
He laughs now at his cocky attitude then.
He said: “I was a solo artist, I was never joining De Dannan, but
I had an absolute blast. I went to Australia, China, Hong Kong.”
Then on November 26, 1998, Fleming was on the road again — promoting
Restless Spirit, his first real solo album — another night in a
constant grind of gigs and radio stations, staying in grotty B&Bs.
He said: “I was tired, wrecked and fell asleep at the wheel. I ploughed
straight into a tree.
“I broke my neck in three places. I ended up in the Mater Hospital
and was told it would be at least a year before I could do anything.
“It was bad, a horrible time in my life, it took me many years to
recover.
“I was in an awful lot of pain. I could walk eventually but I had
this big cage over my head. I couldn’t shower, couldn’t sleep
without sleeping pills. A little depression set in.”
But Fleming came out of that and went in to record the album The Contender.
He claims he wouldn’t change one thing about his life because even
the bad things have brought him to where he is today.
He said: “That car crash woke me up, it changed me an awful lot.
I was a train crash waiting to happen.
“All of a sudden everything just stopped, I hit a tree, good luck.”
But what really cleared his head was three months working as a GOAL volunteer
in Sudan.
He said: “I didn’t go because I thought I could help, I didn’t
go because I wanted to change the world, I went because I was running
away from my problems.
“The lesson I learned is you can’t run away. I came back and
I started to face up to my problems.”
Having by now ditched his former manager he went out and organised Voice
Of Hope, a concert of uplifting and spiritual songs in the unique setting
of Knock Basilica, the first secular event held there.
Did it come to him in a moment of prayer?
He said: “Not at all. People ask: ‘God, is he very religious?’
No, I’m not, I’ll be honest with you.
“I’d have a spirituality I suppose like a lot of people that
has been tested down the years.
“The idea came to me a long time ago — it’s the only
venue west of the Shannon that can hold 4,000 people — but the manager
couldn’t see it; too much money, too much work.”
Fleming also has the Church to thank for finding him a wife, Tina, who
is also his tour co-ordinator and PA.
They met when they shared a pew at the funeral of a mutual friend.
He said: “We were giggling about something stupid in a place where
you know you’re not supposed to laugh, then we went for a drink.
“We spent the day drinking. I hadn’t done that in years, we
were both quite shook up.”
Fleming’s latest chart-topping album A Life Like Mine features songs
that reflect his newfound fighting spirit.
He said: “Albums to me are like kids, none of them are the same.
If they are you’re in trouble.
“If you listen to the songs on A Life Like Mine, there’s a
lot of picking yourself up, dusting yourself down and getting on with
life and that’s where that album comes from.
“I’ve fought a lot of battles in my career, I’ll probably
fight a lot more and this album is my message — I’m not beat
yet.”
Next up is A Journey Home, a DVD and double CD recorded live in concert
last March at the INEC in Killarney, which is to be released on October
19.
He said: “The theme of the album is it’s a journey home in
music.
“It goes all the way from Danny Boy and Carrickfergus up to U2,
Paul Brady, Jimmy McCarthy, Johnny Duhan and Van Morrison.”
The signs are Tommy Fleming’s journey has still a long way to go. |
