Shay Healy (29 March 1943 – 9 April 2021)
was an
Irish songwriter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known for his role as host of
''Nighthawks'', a
RTÉ Television chat show of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for composing "
What's Another Year
"What's Another Year" was Irish singer and composer Johnny Logan's first Eurovision Song Contest winning song, achieving success in the 1980 edition of the contest, as well as 's second Eurovision victory. Composed by Shay Healy (who also wrot ...
", Ireland's winning entry in the
1980 Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...
.
Early life
Shay Healy was raised along with his five siblings in
Sandymount
Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland.
Etymology
An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill. in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. His father, Seamus, was a civil servant and part-time stage actor who performed at the
Abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
and
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
theatres. His mother, Máirín Ní Shúilleabháin, was a singer of
Irish traditional songs.
[''The Irish Times'', "Shay Healy", 26 July 1980] She also wrote plays and stories and encouraged young Shay's early talent for writing. This led to his first appearance at the age of 15 on the Irish national radio station,
Radió Éireann, reading a self-penned article.
Career
Healy had a varied career, never focusing too intently on any one of his various professional interests. Of his tendency to diversify he once commented: "I know it infuriates some people when you don't pigeonhole yourself, but I don't take on anything that won't stand up to public scrutiny."
Songwriting
Healy first received attention as a performer of his own "songs of social significance" during the 1960s. Later he wrote comedy songs for
Billy Connolly,
including "The Orient Express-a tale of intrigue and cross dressing", "The Shitkickers Waltz", and "The Country & Western Supersong". Healy achieved his greatest success as a songwriter with "What's Another Year", which won the
1980 Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...
. Over the course of the next 15 years, the song earned him a total of £250,000.
[''The Irish Times'', "THE MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST: Shay Healy", 28 December 1995] In 1983 his song, "Edge Of The Universe", sung by
Linda Martin
Linda Martin (born 27 March 1952) is an Irish singer and television presenter. She is best known as the winner of the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest during which she represented Ireland with the song " Why Me?". She is also known within Irelan ...
, was the overall winner of the
Castlebar Song Contest
The Castlebar Song Contest was an annual international song contest that was first staged in 1966 in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. The contest was initially organised by the Castlebar Chamber of Commerce as part of a drive to increase tourism t ...
. Under the name of Crack, he and Dave Pennefather released a
parody song
Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or performer, or even a general style of music.
In music, parody has been us ...
called "Silly Fellow", which was about
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
's arrest and jail experience in Japan. Healy and Pennefather also released a parody of Abba's song "Mamma Mia" that they called "Hey C'mere" and credited to Rubbish.
Musical theatre
In 1977, Healy branched into musical theatre with the script, co-written with
Niall Toibin
Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...
, for a stage production entitled ''The King''. This was a show based on the life and music of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and was premiered at the
Cork Opera House two months after the singer's death. In contrast, Healy's
rock opera, ''The Knowledge'', failed to receive commercial backing and was premiered in
Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
by an amateur group in January 1989.
Healy was more successful with his musical, ''The Wiremen'', which received its premiere on 4 May 2005 at Dublin's
Gaiety Theatre in a production by John McColgan and
Moya Doherty
Moya Doherty (born 1957, in Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland) is a Dublin-raised Irish entrepreneur and the producer and co-founder of ''Riverdance''.
Early life
Doherty was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, and raised in Dublin. She attended M ...
that ran for six weeks. ''The Wiremen'' tells the story of the introduction of electricity into
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...
during the 1950s. In March 2010 the show was revived in an amateur production by the
Birr Stage Guild.
Broadcasting
Healy joined
RTÉ Television in 1963 as a trainee cameraman. Within five years he had moved to the other side of the lens with appearances on programmes such as ''Twenty Minutes With...'', ''Ballad Sheet'' and ''Hoot'nany''.
In the summer months of 1988 he hosted a series called
The Dublin Village
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
with
Ingrid Miley
Ingrid may refer to:
* Ingrid (given name)
* Ingrid (record label), and artist collective
* Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid
* Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones
* 1026 Ingrid, an asteroid
* InGrid, the grid computing projec ...
it reran on Wednesday nights in 2005 and 2006 on
RTE 2.
Between 1988 and 1992 Healy hosted
''Nighthawks'', a late-night satirical chat show broadcast on
RTÉ Two
(RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
, which he later described as "the best four years of my working life". In January 1992, the show became embroiled in political controversy as a result of Healy's interview with former
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...
Justice Minister Seán Doherty. During the interview, Doherty revealed that some members of the cabinet with whom he served in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
had been aware of his order to
illegally tap the phones of a number of Irish journalists. The revelation led to the resignation of
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Charles Haughey a few weeks later.
In January 1995, RTÉ terminated Healy's contract.
One of his last shows for the station was ''Where Are They Now?'' in which he interviewed former celebrities whose fame had largely faded. Healy then set up his own production company which made a series of television documentaries. His 1995 TV documentary on Irish musician,
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, bassist, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and ba ...
, ''The Rocker'', was broadcast on
RTÉ Two
(RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
and
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
, and later released as a DVD.
In 1998, Healy made two half-hour documentaries for the RTÉ One television series, ''Against The Odds''. The series focused on individuals who had overcome adversity in their lives. Healy's two films featured an actor, Chris Burke, who was born with
dwarfism
Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...
, and a singer,
Ronan Tynan, whose legs were amputated when he was twenty.
[''The Irish Times'', "Success in a small way", 7 March 1998]
Among the other TV programmes Healy presented were ''Reach For The Stars'' (1971), ''Hullaballoo'' (1977), ''The Birthday Show'' (1993-1995), ''Beastly Behaviour'' (1998-1999), ''Ireland's Greatest Hits'' (2001) and ''A Little Bit Country'' (2006).
Healy won two
Jacob's Awards
The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...
. He received the first in 1984 for ''Strawberry Fields Forever'', a radio documentary series on the 1960s in Ireland, which he presented and Siobhan McHugh produced. His second award came in 1989 for his television work.
In 2007, Healy joined the judging panel on
TG4
TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond.
TG4 was formerly known ...
's talent show, ''
Glór Tíre
''Glór Tíre'' (, "voice of the country") is a reality-based talent search for Ireland's newest country and western music star. It has been running for a number of seasons on TG4, the Irish public service broadcaster for Irish-language speakers. ...
''.
Writing
In the early 1960s, Healy became Folk Correspondent for ''Spotlight'', an Irish pop music weekly, and he continued to write for the magazine until its demise in the mid-1970s. He wrote a weekly column for the ''
Irish Daily Mail''.
''The Stunt'' is the title of Healy's debut novel, published in 1992. It deals with the Irish rock scene and was described by one reviewer as "a more truthful... representation (of) the Irish music scene than ''
The Commitments''". His second novel, ''Green Card Blues'', is set among the illegal Irish immigrant community in New York City.
In 2005 ''On The Road'', Healy's memoir of his life in showbusiness, was published.
Personal life
Healy married Dymphna Errity from Landen Road, Ballyfermot at Our Lady of the Assumption Church Ballyfermot on 5 September 1967. They were married for almost 50 years up to Dymphna's death on 10 July 2017. They had two sons, Oisin and Fionain.
In 2004, Healy was diagnosed with the degenerative disorder,
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
.
[''Sunday Independent'', "Presenting with Parkinson's", 18 December 2005]
Healy died on 9 April 2021, aged 78.
Publications
*''The Stunt'', (O'Brien Press, 1992, )
*''Green Card Blues'', (O'Brien Press, 1994, )
*''Beastly Jokes'', (O'Brien Press, 2005, )
*''More Beastly Jokes'', (O'Brien Press, 2005, )
*''On The Road'', (O'Brien Press, 2005, )
References
External links
Official web site*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Shay
1943 births
2021 deaths
Irish documentary filmmakers
Eurovision Song Contest winners
Jacob's Award winners
Irish columnists
Irish music journalists
Irish musical theatre composers
Irish novelists
Irish songwriters
Irish television personalities
People from Sandymount
People with Parkinson's disease
RTÉ television presenters
Irish male novelists
Castlebar Song Contest winners