I REMEMBER...Paul Brady
Reader's Digest UK|April 2023
Paul Brady (75) is an Irish music legend whose 50year career has seen him cross paths with everyone from Bob Dylan to Tina Turner. Paul's new memoir Crazy Dreams is out now
I REMEMBER...Paul Brady

MY EARLIEST MEMORY WAS THE SONG “NOW IS THE HOUR”, which was a big hit for Vera Lynn shortly after the war. Bing Crosby recorded that in the Fifties, and that might have been the version that I heard, because a lot of big singers at the time recorded the song. According to my father, it's the first tune they heard me la la-ing to when I was 18 months old.

MY MUM AND DAD WERE BOTH PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. My father was trained in the Republic of Ireland's system and my mother was trained in the north. My father was a Sligo man and my mother was born in County Tyrone. When they got married, they wanted both to work, so they had to find a town on the border of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. That's why we settled in the town of Strabane. My mother taught in the north of Ireland, in a school three miles south of the town, and my father used to cycle across the bridge every morning to his school in Lyford in the Republic of Ireland. It was kind of a dual existence. You were living with two different cultures really, socially, artistically, and politically. It was a good experience to have both. I think people who live along the border do benefit from two different views of the world.

I WAS SENT TO PIANO LESSONS WHEN I WAS ABOUT FIVE OR SIX. Usually at the piano lessons, you learn how to play the scales and read a bit of simple music. But I very quickly realised that it wasn't the music I wanted to play. The music I wanted to play was what I was hearing on the radio in the house— Radio Luxembourg was the big pop station. I started to try and play the tunes I heard on the radio myself. I kind of taught myself by ear how to play the piano.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM READER'S DIGEST UKView all
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Reader's Digest UK

EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
May Fiction
Reader's Digest UK

May Fiction

An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month

time-read
1 min  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Wine Not
Reader's Digest UK

Wine Not

In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Train Booking Hacks
Reader's Digest UK

Train Booking Hacks

With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices

time-read
4 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Reader's Digest UK

JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN

Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again

time-read
8 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
My Britain: Cheltenham
Reader's Digest UK

My Britain: Cheltenham

A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!

time-read
6 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Reader's Digest UK

GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB

Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.

time-read
6 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
Reader's Digest UK

Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant

After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Reader's Digest UK

Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World

Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Stand Tall, Ladies
Reader's Digest UK

Stand Tall, Ladies

Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024