Ruadhán Jones
Famous Irish rock ‘n roll guitarist Rory Gallagher was “a practising Catholic all his life” and attended Mass regularly at Brompton Oratory in London, his biographer said recently.
Speaking on the Brendan O’Connor Show June 6, Julian Vignoles – author of Rory Gallagher, The Man Behind the Guitar – said that Gallagher placed great importance on attending Mass regularly.
“He lived in the Kensington area of London, and the Brompton Oratory was close by, and he went there a lot,” Mr Vignoles said. “In fact there was a memorial service a few months after he died in there. One of the curious things is that Ag Chríost an Shíol, O’Riada’s hymn, was performed – it was the first time any language other than Greek or Latin was performed in the oratory.”
The Donegal-born guitarist also didn’t like “crude jokes or bad talk”, Mr Vignoles said. Rory Gallagher died in 1995 aged 47, and has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.