NEW LIFE:Mike Hanrahan has gone from sharing gigs with Michael Jackson and heading a music-rights organisation to working in the food industry, writes MICHELLE McDONAGH.
AFTER A successful musical career spanning 30 years, Mike Hanrahan found himself facing his 50th birthday with no idea about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
He had reached a crossroads in his career and life when his SSIA money dropped into his lap, opening up a whole new opportunity for him.
The singer, guitarist and song-writer had always loved cooking and entertaining people and was particularly taken with Darina Allen’s approach to food at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co Cork.
With his SSIA windfall, Hanrahan did a three-month cookery course at Ballymaloe and while he still does not know where his new life is going to take him, he is enjoying the journey and hopes to eventually marry his two passions in life: music and food.
Born into a musical family in Ennis, Co Clare, Hanrahan was surrounded by music and encouraged to take up instruments at a young age.
“I never had any doubt in my mind where I was going. Like everybody else in Ennis in those days, I got a job in Shannon Airport. My first job was as a kitchen porter but I left that to go on the road as a musician.”
In 1977, Hanrahan began his professional career with Maura O’Connell in a duo called Tumbleweed touring the Irish folk circuit.
His brother Kieran had founded the band Stockton’s Wing and, in 1980, Hanrahan joined the band and over the next 15 years he toured extensively throughout Europe and the UK and wrote many of their songs.
He describes his years with Stockton’s Wing as a “seriously amazing experience” with some unforgettable highlights. In the summer of 1988, the band shared the stage with Michael Jackson in Cork for two nights as part of Jacko’s world tour and the following year Sammy Davis Junior invited the band to perform at his Lansdowne Road shows in Dublin.
“I think I’ve lived a few lives in one, even in that period alone. Stockton’s Wing was just an amazing trip: 15 years of great memories, great music, great fun. We met some amazing people and were lucky to hook up with some great people who managed us along the way.
“We constantly annoyed elements of the industry with the way we took music and experimented with it in different ways, but we were blessed to have an audience who loved that.”
In 1994, Hanrahan left Stockton’s Wing to pursue a solo career and tour with Finbar Furey in the UK. It was in 1997 that he began working with Ronnie Drew and started another very enjoyable chapter in his musical career which lasted until his great friend Ronnie tragically became too ill to continue working in 2007.
Hanrahan was elected deputy chairman of IMRO (Irish Rights Music Organisation) in 1998 and chairman of the organisation in 2000, a position he held for six years.
“I was 500 per cent dedicated to trying to protect the rights of Irish writers because my own rights were not protected in my career.
“Rather than just sitting in a pub whinging and moaning about it, I decided to get stuck into IMRO and try to ensure it did not happen to others,” he explains.
While Hanrahan hopes he achieved a lot during his years with IMRO, he felt he was left with no choice but to resign from his position as chairman in 2006 due to a change in the organisation’s regime.
“When I left IMRO it was a very dark time for me, the lowest point of my life ever in the music industry. It took me a long time to get back up and see where I wanted to go.
“IMRO left a massive gaping hole in my life because I had given so much time to it. Ronnie had been diagnosed with cancer and his wife, Deirdre, said that it was likely he would not work again.”
It was at this point, facing into his 50th year, that Hanrahan decided to retrain as a chef. He had been to Ballymaloe House a number of times with Ronnie and Eleanor Shanley – who he also worked with – and loved the whole atmosphere there.
“I had always cooked and was a very keen amateur. I loved entertaining people and creating food but needed to learn more about it. I had no idea where it would take me, I went with the view of going to learn and see how I got on.
“I learnt a lot about organic food and produce and how the industry works here. I still don’t know where it’s going to take me but I have a few ideas up my sleeve.”
After leaving Ballymaloe, Mike got a job running a kitchen and he is currently working as a chef at Mr Cormack’s bar/restaurant in Mounttown, Dun Laoghaire where he says he has learnt more over the last year than any college could have taught him in five years.
“It’s been a massive change. It took me a good six months to get even a small bit used to working shifts and not having to make executive decisions.
“At IMRO I was at the top, the job was high powered and the stress was huge. Suddenly I was in a kitchen, just one of the lads. The greatest shock of all has been living on a chef’s wage.”
But Mike welcomes the change because his life is much calmer these days and his outlook is more positive which also benefits the woman he describes as “my wife and my life”, Donna.
He still plays a bit of music, including a recent one-off Stockton’s Wing reunion gig in Ennis but has made the decision to get as far away from the music industry as possible as he found he was becoming any angry person. While he misses the gigs, the touring and the communication with people that he experienced as a musician, Mike hopes that in the future, when he has more time, he will be able to combine music and food in a career.
In terms of the future, he has no interest in running his own restaurant but he does hope to work in the organic food area in Ireland. He is particularly interested in developing food documentaries and is currently working on one idea with Production 63 in Ennis.
“There are so many great things happening with food in Ireland. It’s almost like a revolution. As a nation we are beginning to eat better food and to respect food more.”