A CRAZY WORLDWIND

Star's life plagued by demons but he shone bright until the end

- SANDRA MALLON

CHRISTY Dignam was born on May 23, 1960, and grew up in the north Dublin suburb of Finglas.

He was raised by Christy Snr and Teresa and had seven siblings, Bernie, Deirdre, James, Brian, Therese, Jackie and Eddie.

He previously told how he grew up in a house where Teresa was religious but his father wasn't because Christy Snr remembered his own mother giving a shilling at the church collection even when there was no money for food.

He added: "And then when his mother died they were trying to get the priest up to the gaff to bless her and because they hadn't got the half crown fee at the time the priest wouldn't come up. So from then on he absolutely hated religion.

"It kind of gave us a healthy disrespect for authority. Christy studied at the Bel Canto House School of Singing in Dublin city but it was with Aslan that he found his voice.

The band - Christy, Joe Jewell, Billy McGuinness and Alan Downey formed in 1982 and reached Nol in the Irish charts with three of their first four albums.

In 1986 their first single This Is shot them onto the charts after it was played first on 2FM.

They followed it up with the hit album Feel No Shame.