Christie Hennessy

Christie Hennessy
Christie Hennessy's statue in Tralee
Background information
Born	19 November 1945
Origin	Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland
Died	11 December 2007 (aged 62)
Genres	Folk, singer-songwriter
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Guitar
Website	christiehennessy.com

Christie Hennessy (born as Edward Christopher Ross) (19 November 1945 – 11 December 2007) was an Irish folk singer-songwriter. Although Hennessy was unable to read or write due to severe dyslexia, he still wrote his own songs such as "Roll back the Clouds" and "All the lies that you told me". He sang "All the lies that you told me" with his daughter Hermione, but the song was made famous by Frances Black rather than Hennessy and his daughter.

Hennessy was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. His first guitar was made, especially for him, from a tea chest when he was six years old by his friend Jerry Quirke. He left school at the age of eleven and a half.

As a child he was looked after by his sister, Mary Ross. She looked after him as they had many other siblings and their father was unwell. She went on too get married too a man from county cork, Patrick (Patsy) Cullinane and have 3 children; Simon, Anthony and Michael. Christie was close with the 3 children as they had moved too London also. To this day she has 6 grandchildren. 3 of them are Sam, Lily and Grace Cullinane.

His first job was as a messenger boy, and it was then that he discovered that it was important to be able to read. He was unable to read or write due to severe dyslexia, but still enjoyed his library of books. He later worked on building sites in London.

In 1972 he released his first record, The Green Album, on Westwood, a small label. With scant publicity or promotion, the album made little impact and only 500 copies of the record were pressed. Hennessy returned to labouring on building sites in the UK and did not release another album for twenty years. When he did, his 1992 release The Rehearsal outsold U2 in Ireland, eventually attaining triple platinum status. His following albums, A Year in the Life and Box also sold extremely well in Ireland.

A renowned songwriter as well as performer, Hennessy wrote several songs that became hits for other singers including Don't Forget your Shovel, made famous by Christy Moore, and All the Lies that You Told Me, recorded by Frances Black. He also composed the theme tune and incidental music for the BBC TV series "Get Well Soon" written by Ray Galton (of Steptoe & Son fame) and composed and wrote a musical/feature film about his native Ireland, Two Stops to Paradise