Darragh McGann
Darragh McGann interview 13th Dec 2010This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Cobh singer Darragh McGann better known as the singing Taxi driver. Mind you it seems that the tag, Singing Taxi driver might be just a little out of step as Darragh has established himself on a national and local stage as a singer, this time outside his taxi.
He delighted in telling me that he now has a new manager Michelle McCarthy from Gortroe, Michelle who has been involved in the music business for the last number of years is no stranger to working with great singers and bands.
I asked Darragh to tell me about how it started for him and what prompted him to continue along this musical road without the aid of a taxi. Well when I got back from doing two concerts in Louisiana in America in October and I was doing another concert in the Sirus arts centre in Cobh which was a sellout, musical director for that concert was Dominic Finn. Dominic is the musical director of the Cathedral in Cobh and he suggested to Darragh that they should do a brand new album to move along and to show more of what Darragh is like, showing some of the older songs from Matt Monroe, Andy Williams and other great artists. Many people who have heard Darragh sing have said that these songs and artists are wonderful and he should record them so that’s the plan.
I asked Darragh where it all began for him and he replied that he started singing in school and in 1995 when he was on the set of that famous movie Devine Rapture when he was singing the Jimmy McCarthy song the contender on set one day. He thought nothing of it until a little later when he was on a cliff top with Marlon Brando as he was a stand in for Brando on that film, Marlon turned to him in the middle of it all and said “Hey you gotta do something with that voice” I was shocked said Darragh I spent the first few minutes wondering where had he heard me sing then when it dawned on me I decided to follow up on that and take lessons from Maeve Coughlan in the School of music. Some time passed and I was driving taxis so I decided that it would be a good idea to sing to clients, I was lucky in that a lot of my clients were from liners and somewhere along the way a radio station in England heard about me and invited me onto their show and asked me to sing, I didn’t find out till later that they had a listening audience of over 1.3 million people after that I went into the recording studio with Brian IO Reilly and then after that I entered the competition Irelands got talent which I didn’t reach the finals but because of that I was invited to sing the national anthem for the Dublin St Patrick’s day Parade.
So what does the future hold for Darragh, Well I have the new album in January, a new manager, a concert tour starting next year. I have a lot planned and whether it’s in a taxi or on stage I love to sing and connect with an audience. For more information on Darragh check out his website www. thesingingtaxidriver.com
He delighted in telling me that he now has a new manager Michelle McCarthy from Gortroe, Michelle who has been involved in the music business for the last number of years is no stranger to working with great singers and bands.
I asked Darragh to tell me about how it started for him and what prompted him to continue along this musical road without the aid of a taxi. Well when I got back from doing two concerts in Louisiana in America in October and I was doing another concert in the Sirus arts centre in Cobh which was a sellout, musical director for that concert was Dominic Finn. Dominic is the musical director of the Cathedral in Cobh and he suggested to Darragh that they should do a brand new album to move along and to show more of what Darragh is like, showing some of the older songs from Matt Monroe, Andy Williams and other great artists. Many people who have heard Darragh sing have said that these songs and artists are wonderful and he should record them so that’s the plan.
I asked Darragh where it all began for him and he replied that he started singing in school and in 1995 when he was on the set of that famous movie Devine Rapture when he was singing the Jimmy McCarthy song the contender on set one day. He thought nothing of it until a little later when he was on a cliff top with Marlon Brando as he was a stand in for Brando on that film, Marlon turned to him in the middle of it all and said “Hey you gotta do something with that voice” I was shocked said Darragh I spent the first few minutes wondering where had he heard me sing then when it dawned on me I decided to follow up on that and take lessons from Maeve Coughlan in the School of music. Some time passed and I was driving taxis so I decided that it would be a good idea to sing to clients, I was lucky in that a lot of my clients were from liners and somewhere along the way a radio station in England heard about me and invited me onto their show and asked me to sing, I didn’t find out till later that they had a listening audience of over 1.3 million people after that I went into the recording studio with Brian IO Reilly and then after that I entered the competition Irelands got talent which I didn’t reach the finals but because of that I was invited to sing the national anthem for the Dublin St Patrick’s day Parade.
So what does the future hold for Darragh, Well I have the new album in January, a new manager, a concert tour starting next year. I have a lot planned and whether it’s in a taxi or on stage I love to sing and connect with an audience. For more information on Darragh check out his website www. thesingingtaxidriver.com
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