Dublin born singer Colm C.T. Wilkinson made his degut appearance in Longford at Andy’s Cabaret room before the show he talked to us about his life in the music business to date and his hopes for the future.

Right from the start he was always mad about music. At the age of 16 he was playing in the action band. They played mainly tennis clubs and cricket clubs around Dublin. Their music was a Jazz-Blues Rock and Roll mix. His next venture was with Mick Ryan and the Four Keys again around Dublin. While playing with these groups he also worked in his fathers Asphalt Contracting Business. The family pressures began to build up. His family hoped he would go into the business full time at the management end. So he dutifully packed in music an went to work full time with his father.

This turned out to be the hardest five years of his life. As often happens in father, son working partnerships there was a lot of friction. Having had his full of being treated as the snotty nosed kid he returned to his first love, music.
He teamed up with Jim Doherty who had a residency in the Martella Rooms of the then Intercontinental Hotel. Getting fed up with playing in the glass box as it was sometimes as it was sometimes called he joined a showband doing the rounds of the army bases in Germany. There was a big demand for soul music at these bases so Colm’s powerful voice was much in demand.

BACK HOME…

Arriving back in Ireland he joined a group from the North of Ireland called the witnesses. They were very popular here in the sixties. Shortly after Colm joined them they went on tour to Puerto Rico and Nassau in the Bahamas where they had hotel residency’s. It was while they were in Nassau that Colm met the late great Elvis. He was staying in the hotel resting from his first stint in Las Vegas. Every night after the show he used to come and chat with the boys. Colm has written a song about the death of Elvis which he has included in his live act.

PROFESSIONAL

The witnesses moved from Nassau to the States and from there to Canada. He says of the Witnesses that they were the most professional cabaret outfit he ever worked with. He learned all he knows about cabaret from touring with them.
Colm left the Witnesses in Montreal in ’70 to return to Ireland. Romance was in the air for him at this period. He married in June of that year. He became involved in cabaret in Ireland that year and played mainly in Dublin city with Drummer-Manager Brendan Brophy. They made the occasional trip to Limerick and Waterford and unknown in the rest of the country.

BIG BREAK

In 72 the first big break came. He was accepted for part of Judas in the Irish production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which also starred Cahir O’Doherty. The West-End version of the show had been running for about a year at this stage. They were having difficulty in London with Judas.
The role is a very demanding one vocally and none of the English singers could stand eight shows a week for more than a couple of months. The organizers in London had heard about Colm. When the Dublin show had been running about six months, Bob swash an executive of the Robert Stigwood Organization who were promoting the show in London came to Dublin in ’73. He went to see the show here, liked Colm in the part and invited him to audition in London.
He went to London got the part and spent the next 2 ½ years singing his heart out in the Palace Theatre in London’s West-End. Colm enjoyed working in London as it gave him a lot of artistic freedom. However, being a family man with two children, Aaron 6 and a half and Judith four he would prefer to live in Ireland.

RECORD CONTRACT

In ’75 he signed a record contract with D.J.M he cut an album under this contract, one of the tracks on it “There was a dream” was later his entry for the National Song contest.
When he left superstar in ’76 Tim rice asked him to sing the part of Che in his new rock musical Evita. The idea was to record an album first using people who could go on stage at a later date to perform it. The show opens in the West-End in June. Colm made the recording and came home to Ireland for a holiday and to have a look at the state of the business in this country. While he was here he was reading for a part in “Fire Angel” a rock version of the merchant of Venice with a mafia slant. He was reading for the part of the Shylock character another heavy role.

SONG CONTEST

Rehearsals for this musical got underway in Jan ’77 in London. Colm had to take a day off from rehearsals to compete in the national song contest. He found easier on that occasion as he was far removed from the pre-contract build-up. “It was just like another job, I went in sang the song and flew back to London the next morning to start rehearsing Fire Angle again.”
Jackie Johnston wanted him to come back to Ireland as there was a lot of good reaction the “There was a Dream”. He decided to come back and Jackie worked hard getting his name known here. His voice has been used on commercials and even the Fianna Fail campaign song Our Kind of country. The he sees as just another commercial, getting paid for using his voice. Before he did it he was asked if he had any political affiliations as he had not, he sang it and only found out afterwards what party it was for. He has had quite a bit of T.V. exposure here in Ireland in the past year. At the cabaret circuit “Big Boozers mostly”.

In the meantime he has signed a recording contract with Tim Rice for Europe and the States. He has brought out his debut LP in Ireland with Tommy Ellis of Solo Records. Half of the tracks on the album are self penned. He would like to continue in the mode writing and singing his own songs. His LP has been well received in Europe by the artists association Midem. They are urging him to release the LP there. That might endanger his deal with Tim Rice so he is not sure as yet if he will go ahead on it. During last summer Tim Rice persuaded Hal Prince to audition Colm for the part in Evita.
Although he no longer wanted the part he went along and had a great audition. Hal Prince wants him for the part now. Colm no longer wants the part but he hopes it won’t affect his working relationship with Tim Rice. For the future Colm hopes to break some ground in England, the States, and Europe. As he is the most dynamic live performer that Ireland has produced for some time, he should realize his hopes in the not too distant future.