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Baker's Dozen

Coming Back To Beauty: Kevin Rowland's Favourite Music
Fergal Kinney , August 19th, 2020 08:16

Kevin Rowland guides Fergal Kinney through the songs that saved him, from self-discovery as a musician through the saving grace of music in recovery from drug addiction. Rowland portrait by Eliza Hill.

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Gordon Macrae - 'Oh What A Beautiful Morning' (from the  Oklahoma! OST)
We went to see Oklahoma! because my brother Pete was into musicals. This track was an easy one to sing. If the teacher ever said does anyone want to sing a song, I’d get up and sing that one. I just liked singing - it came very easy to me. People seemed to like it, it's just great. In my lunch break I'd be trying to get the other kids to join me in singing.  My mum's side were more artistic - her uncle wrote poetry and her aunt encouraged her kids to learn singing and acting, but not in our house. Our dad was the dominant figure - he liked it on birthdays or car journeys but he was a very serious man and it was all about work. I remember singing a song when I was about eight, and my mother told me to start it a bit lower next time, so she encouraged me slightly, but dad was very... he saw it all as serious. Music, clothes, they're not really good things - he would tell us that.