Marian Butler
NOT content with being a former international runner, seven times Irish Champion, World Silver Medallist, and European Champion, Northsider Richard Mulligan has released his debut Country & Western album, titled ‘I Never Met You’.
Originally Galway-based, Richard has lived in Clontarf for the past 30 years and is married with four children, all well known in the local community.
His talent for running landed him an athletic scholarship to Providence College, Rhode Island, USA. True to form, Richard won many races while he was there.
He hasn't always had it easy, however. Richard was born in the Sean Ross Abbey Mother & Baby Home, and only later in life did he find and reunite with his birth mother.
Some of these experiences were the inspiration for his songs which feature on the album, including the title track, ‘I Never Met You’, about his father.
Richard was recently interviewed on Joe Duffy's 'Liveline', and received huge support from the general public and fellow runners who had known him during his racing period.
So how come Richard has recorded a country album?
He says he wanted to record an album for a long time, but was not really sure of which songs to include, or how many.
"The only plan was to record a few of my own songs, and if they sounded okay, I might pluck up the courage to include them, and the covers I sing are my own interpretations, in my own style,” he says.
From a very young age, he was a big Elvis fan and still today counts Elvis as one of his greatest musical influences.
One of his abiding memories is of hearing Elvis on the radio for the first time, (the song was ‘Wooden Heart’, still his favourite of all time).
He says: "I was hooked; I had to find out more about this singer and his songs. That morning, the voice of ‘The King’ brought new excitement into my young life.”
Thus began his lifelong love of, and interest in, learning Elvis’s songs, so that he could eventually play them himself on the guitar.
He did eventually learn to play guitar, and began performing at house parties, and other gigs and charity functions around Ireland.
Being a multi-instrumentalist, Richard incorporates many instruments into his songwriting, and you can hear this by listening to his album, ‘I Never Met You’.
Richard also cites among his influences, Reba McEntire, Don Williams, and, of course, the Irish country star, Big Tom. He has included C&W favourites, Four Country Roads, Wagon Wheel, and Your Cheatin' Heart on his CD.
Richard has also included four of his own brand new songs: ‘Somewhere In Connemara’ (written for his mother), ‘I Never Met You’ (for his father, whom he had never met), ‘Get Over You’, and ‘She Didn't Leave Me Today’.
Radio stations in Australia, the UK, America, Canada, Germany and Ireland, north and south have picked up Richard’s tracks.
Richard is rightfully proud of his album.
"My hope, above all, is that it finds a response from those who listen to it – perhaps a song will bring a smile or a tear, or call up some cherished memory,” he adds.
“That's what music is all about – touching the soul.”
•Richard's CD, ‘I Never Met You’, is now for sale on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.