Tommy Fleming.
By Áine Ni Shionnaigh
I'm nervous as I prepare to interview one of Ireland’s finest singers, Tommy Fleming. But the nerves quickly dissipate as, in typical West of Ireland fashion, the conversation flows and we flit from topic to topic with the ease of old friends. In the end, I have to halt the chat as Tommy has only a few days left before he begins his whirlwind nine-city concert tour of the U.S.
The unassuming Fleming is still struggling to absorb the extent to which fans worldwide are being swept up with the emotion of his work. “I find it hard to believe how much my singing affects people,” he says. “I’m still finding this out.”
When I call, Tommy has just returned from bringing Tiger, his dog, for his daily swim. Today he brought him to Lough Talt as the beach where they usually go is packed. As I'm wondering how a wet and windswept Sligo beach is packed in October, Fleming reflects on the benefits of the outdoors. “It really grounds me,” he says. “Things were manic here before I left as I have a mental two weeks ahead of me. But now I just feel good about how lucky I am to be able to do this.”
He considers himself privileged to be doing what he loves, and then able to return home end of his tour. He lives with his wife Tina in the beautiful beach town of Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, not far from where he was born and raised on the family farm in Aclare. “I’ll never leave home,” he says, while acknowledging that he has the privilege of being able to travel all over the world and enjoys worldwide recognition with regular sell-out tours in Ireland, Britain, the U.S., Australia and Japan.
It’s not surprising, perhaps, that Tommy is a home bird, to use his own term. He has great memories of his childhood. “I’m the youngest of six and they all live nearby, within a 20-mile radius of home.” He mentions his late parents often in conversation, referring in particular to the simplicity of their lives and the sacrifices they made for their children. “I’m not religious, but I feel them close to me every day,” says the youngest Fleming.
Music was in the air around Tommy growing up. The Aclare area has a strong musical tradition, and is well known for its musicians and singers, most notably in traditional music.
“My dad was very quiet,” he recalls. “He loved listening to records.” Perhaps the mellow tones of Shirley Bassey, Barbara Streisand and the Carpenters, together with the extensive traditional Irish collection, made their impact on Tommy’s young soul, creating a depth of expression and feeling that now speaks to souls all around the world.
“The whole family used to gather around the kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon to listen to ‘Ceili House’ on Radio 1,” Fleming remembers, “Oh, and of course my granduncle was a great fiddle player and singer who really influenced me.”
As both of us hail from the West, emigration is an integral part of our conversation. I marvel at the fact what while his treatment of heartrending classics such as “The Emigrant,” “Danny Boy” and “Song for Ireland” resonate with the listener, Fleming has not lived the emigrant experience himself.
We discuss the two types of immigration: one driven by necessity and the other an active choice.
Although modern communications and technologies – and easier assimilation into the new country – have changed the face of emigration, Tommy feels “there is still always a loss of something that remains.”
There is the loss of the obvious: family, friends, neighborhood, a sense of belonging and also the loss of something less tangible, less easily defined. This is what his legions of fans feel when listening to Fleming singing.
The star talks about a woman from Offaly he met after his Australian concert. “I was shocked to learn that despite her pronounced Midlands accent, she had left Ireland when she was 16 years old. Initially, expense and distance kept her from returning and by the time she had money and time, all the people she was close to had passed and she was now 79, still living in Australia.”
With tears in her eyes, she thanked Tommy for bringing Ireland back to her through his singing. One senses the fact that he can convey the immigrant experience with raw emotion on stage is a commentary on the kind of person he is.
Emigration was again the theme when Fleming took on the challenge of a new discipline. The result, “Paddy The Musical,” has been an astounding success, one that has taken him by surprise.
He admits the project was a lot of hard work, one that pushed him out of his comfort zone on several levels. “I wanted to be the best Paddy there is,” Tommy says of taking on the title role. “I didn’t want anyone to be able to imitate me. I also wrote and sung 12 original songs for the soundtrack.”
He also aimed to “transplant the West of Ireland to London’s West End.” The reaction of the critics and fans suggest that he has done so with success.
Fleming says, “You know, the one thing I love about music is when I close my eyes and sing a song and when I finish and open my eyes, I seem to have taken the people to the place I have gone.”
I can attest it really happens and I highly recommend to music fans that they get to a Fleming concert where his singing will indeed bring them to another place.
Tommy Fleming will perform at Symphony Space (Broadway at West 95th Street, New York City, on Friday night. For details of that and the other concerts in his current U.S. tour visit TommyFleming.com.
