14 Facts About Richie Kavanagh

Richard Kavanagh was born on 19 March 1949 and is an Irish singer-songwriter.

Tony Keogh in South East Radio was the first person to play the song and, after Gerry Ryan began playing it on his RTE 2fm national morning show, Richie Kavanagh had a top-ten hit.

Richie Kavanagh was born and raised in the Raheenwood area of Fennagh, County Carlow in Ireland where he still resides.

Richie Kavanagh was encouraged to write songs and sketches by one of his primary school teachers.

Richie Kavanagh's other major influence was the travelling road show which would visit his locality when he was a child.

Richie Kavanagh loved the performances on the stage and used to go home and stand on the kitchen table and re-enact what he had seen.

Richie Kavanagh started his career in the 1970s as a singer songwriter and started to write his own material.

Richie Kavanagh had a hit song called "Face Her For Mount Leinster", and was establishing himself as a popular entertainer.

In March 1996, Richie Kavanagh was called by his son and advised that a song he had written and recorded a few years earlier, "Aon Focal Eile" had been played on Gerry Ryan's radio programme, only it was not Richie Kavanagh's version but a cover by Noel Furlong.

In May 1996 Richie Kavanagh had two albums in the Irish top ten album chart at the same time.

Richie Kavanagh won an IRMA award for Best Single of the Year in Ireland for 1996.

On 9 February 2011, while being interviewed on the Sue Nunn Programme on KCLR Radio, Richie Kavanagh announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

However, Richie Kavanagh's defenders argue that his "stage antics and two-fingered salute to establishment norms" are consistent with the punk ethos.

In 1996 Richie Kavanagh was described as "the first entertainer to become a star through local radio" in the Irish Independent.