May 16, 2024 • 17 mins
Welcome to an exciting episode of "The Voice of Ireland: A Musical Journey with Kiera Dignam". We dive into the inspiring life of Kiera Dignam, a highly gifted vocalist from Dublin, who has been fascinating audiences since the age of 13 at various prestigious venues like the Tree Arena, Vicar Street, the Olympia Theatre, and Cork Opera House among others.
In this intimate discussion, Kiera opens up about her upbringing, her musical journey, and her unique heritage as the proud daughter of late Christy Dignam, the celebrated Irish musician and former lead singer of the famous band, Aslan. She also sheds light on her current six-piece band, her deep-rooted passion for music and her ambitious plans for her career.
Kiera tells her tale of growing from childhood jam sessions around the house to becoming a prominent young artist, facing challenges and embracing opportunities. In this deeply personal insight into Kiera’s life, we experience her determination to carve a unique path in the world of music, stepping out of her legendary father’s shadow.
Kiera highlights the importance of networking in the music industry and shares her experiences of collaborating within a band. Her ability to bring together the right team that aligns with her vision is her key to success. She also talks about her first cheeky album 'Nepo Baby', a nod to those who only identify her as Christy Dignam's daughter.
Glimpses into her personal life reveal the strong bond with her father. Kiera praises him not only as an extraordinary artist but also as a wonderful parent, offering enormous support despite the challenging nature of the music industry. Growing from handling childhood bullying to establishing a solo career, Kiera finds comfort on the stage. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of Kiera Dignam’s life journey, her resilience in the music industry, and her unwavering pursuit of passion.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good evening, everybody. Today's guest is Ciara Dignam, a female vocalist from Dublin.
Ciara has been singing on stages since the age of 13 with live performances
at the Tree Arena, Vicar Street, the Olympia Theatre, the National Stadium,
Cork Opera House and many more.
Ciara has been on stage with many big names in the music industry,
(00:23):
such as Christy Dignam, lead singer of Aslan, Mark Feely, Danny O'Reilly, Gavin James,
Paul Brady, Imelda May, Damian Dempsey, Paddy Casey and Munday.
Ciara is also the proud daughter of the late Christy Dignam who sadly passed away last year.
Christy was in a very famous band called Aslan. So thank you very much Ciara
(00:44):
for coming on to the podcast.
I'll start by just maybe asking a bit about yourself, your upbringing,
where you're from and how you ended up into music.
Thanks for having me. Yeah, I think, well, I was brought up in Dublin and my
dad, obviously, he was a singer.
So some people ask me if he hadn't been a singer, would I have went down that route?
(01:07):
But all I know is I've never wanted to do anything other than singing.
So I feel as though even if my dad was a plumber, I would still be a singer. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah when you were younger was there always like sessions in the house where
people would just get an instrument and you were just around it wanting to play
and not knowing at the time,
(01:27):
yeah I think I never knew any different so like
my dad would have always been kind he he just sang he didn't
he tried to play guitar he used to pick up a guitar he'd play like
two chords and then put it down and say that guitar sounds lovely
but that's just because he only knew those two chords which in
fairness to him is more than I know I can't I
don't want to have short nails for long enough to learn how to play guitar which
(01:49):
would be so handy for songwriting and stuff but luckily enough my husband plays
guitar and piano so I can rely on him for that but yeah it was always kind of
the band would rehearse in the house a lot and stuff like that and I would have
always been in the studio and things like that so it was kind of normal for me.
Oh that's beautiful and tell me this you are part of a six-piece band at the
(02:10):
moment who are the theaters in the band and And how did it form?
So I've been gigging since I was 12. So when I started off, as I said, I didn't play anything.
So at the time, I'd kind of go into places with backing tracks and stuff.
So then as I kind of progressed, I wanted live musicians with me.
(02:32):
And then I had met my husband, Darren, when I was 16.
So we've kind of been together since then.
It's all gone downhill for him and me since then.
And so Darren's kind of been my right hand man since then.
He's been, like whether it was tracks, he'd always be me.
He'd kind of sort out the music for me and then going forward,
then he started to play guitar and stuff for me.
(02:54):
So he then kind of handpicked band members to put around me.
So yeah, it's kind of been.
That's brilliant. So Ciara, Darren is actually in the band.
Yeah. Yeah. So we kind of, we live together, we work together and I haven't killed him yet.
And you're together since 16. That is really, really, really interesting. Seriously.
(03:14):
Honestly, I'm married two years and I was told happy wife, happy life.
That's what my husband's been told when he's out.
Absolutely. Yeah. Everett, because you have now, obviously you've reached your own level of success.
And I know that, you know, this is a journey you're always going to want to do and be better.
Like you said you were a solo artist and then you wanted to go bigger with
(03:34):
with a band but does it ever bother you I suppose if people see you would they
reckon are they recognizing you for your music now or they'd be like oh my god
it's Christy's daughter or Adlan or does that annoy you and do you kind of want
to have your own personality and your own music and be known for that or does
that does that bother you?
I think for a long time it was always kind of Christy Dignam's daughter in inverted
(03:57):
commas I suppose and it used to bother me and because I was kind of out there
working and trying to kind of forge my own path.
I brought my album out late last year and it's gradually starting to get to cure it now.
Like I think I'll always be known as Chrissy Diggins' daughter.
And as much as that used to kind of annoy me.
(04:18):
And it's again, I would say annoy me in a bit. I don't mean annoy me, annoy me.
I mean, as I said, I was trying to kind of be out there on my own.
And like, I never even let my dad
come to gigs for that reason because I didn't want it to be about that.
I didn't want it to be you know i didn't want to make think anybody
i was talking off anyone's code strings and i was happy to work hard and deal
with myself but since he's passed i can kind of have a different perspective
(04:41):
on it now and i'm kind of i'm proud of i've always been proud of being his daughter
but now i kind of feel that i can kind of represent him now as well he's not
here to kind of sing anymore so i can.
You know be the singer of the family I suppose and
keep absolutely and it will it
will move on through you you're going to no matter where you go
(05:02):
music is in you I can't see you doing anything else now
this is something that you've decided as a kid that you wanted to do
when kids were out playing on the streets you know I
mean I know when I was a kid if I was even asked
to go and play an instrument we used to play the recorder in school I don't remember
if you remember those days they were all caught yeah and
we would cry having to learn this but I mean it's in
(05:24):
your blood though so yeah please god it will
keep going so tell me what's next step for the band you've
obviously played a lot of places around in Ireland do
you intend to leave Ireland or is it just Ireland that
you want to focus on well when I first launched the
album I was kind of thinking just get Ireland you
know try to establish myself in Ireland and that can take a couple
(05:45):
of years especially I was gigging kind of a lot at the
beginning of my career I was doing a lot of covers and stuff like
that so because I'm kind of doing my own music
now and building on that that is going to
take time and I'm happy I'm happy for that I'm happy to kind
of put the work in that doesn't bother me and so my
plan was kind of trying not conquer Ireland but
(06:05):
you know to kind of make get it you know establish myself
in Ireland really and then start to move outside side.
But there's an awful lot of interest in England which
I didn't expect so like I went over
and I was asked to sing at the Irish Post Awards in London just before Christmas
so I made a lot of connections with that and since then I was actually brought
(06:26):
back over in February to sing and I've been booked to go back over in August
to Birmingham so it's a career if anybody wherever anybody if people want me
singing in China I am on that flight I don't have plans.
So in august do you have a date because obviously i'm living over in the uk
now i'm living in york and birmingham isn't so far away so if you have a date
perhaps we can go see you yeah absolutely it's i'm trying to think is it the
(06:51):
20 i think it might be the 24th 24th of august it's a festival,
try and get the name of it but it's i think they have a lot of irish in the area you.
Lovely. Yeah, no, I would be definitely interested to go there.
You can send it to me afterwards. It's no problem.
I have a written down, so I'm sure if I Google.
(07:13):
It's in Crown. It's the Crown in Birmingham on the 24th of August.
The old Crown. The old Crown.
So as far as I've gathered, they seem to have a big Irish community there.
So I'm really looking forward to getting over them.
Yeah, that's brilliant. And I suppose everywhere, like even when I lived in
Toronto, there was a huge Irish community.
I mean, there was 80,000 people on Facebook alone that would follow this, you know, anywhere.
(07:39):
What was it, Irish and New in Toronto, if you go on it. I
used to cut hair so I was barbering and
I'd literally just put up a poster I was an Irish barber 20 pounder
haircut because they were all charging 60 I was out the door I
was able to open up my own place within a few weeks so it was brilliant great
stuff and you always get no matter where you go if you go outside Ireland you'll
(08:00):
always get amazing support from the Irish yeah that's very true they really
do they stick but they're good and tell me you have sold out of Vicar Street,
you've been on stage with Paul Brady, just brought back memories.
I love Paul Brady. Oh my gosh. Absolutely.
And I had Paddy on two weeks ago, such a gentleman, really, really nice person. And an absolute genius.
(08:23):
Yeah. Yeah. He was saying like, even just things, I don't think he realizes he's a genius.
I really don't. He was saying like if during lockdown, if somebody was there
and he wanted to make a song where you have to think of lyrics,
you have to think, and I'm like, wow, that's really good actually.
Because everyone has a different perspective on how to take things up. So, yeah.
So tell me about this. How did you get, and Gavin James, this is brilliant.
(08:44):
Talk to me about these people and you've shared stages with them.
Were you gigging and they'd come on or you'd be at the same show? No.
Yeah a lot of times a lot of them are kind of you know these a
lot of times you meet people at charity gigs and stuff like that
where there's a collection of musicians coming on
to sing songs so a lot of times that that's where I would meet them and you
(09:04):
make connections and then you kind of you meet down the road and then sometimes
with those connections you can get in and start song writing with these people
so it's great to have those gigs and have those connections that you You just
don't know one night you could go on,
sing a song and just introduce yourself to somebody.
And four months, five months down the road, you can hear something like they
(09:24):
might they might have heard me on the night and say, actually,
Cameron might be good for this next gig I'm thinking of or this next song I'm thinking of.
Or I might think the same about them. So that's what that's what's great about
about the music community that making those little connections,
you just never know what might come of it.
Absolutely. Yeah, no, I'm in the creative industry myself.
And I have to say I wish I did it 10 years before I
(09:45):
wish I knew about it 10 years before because like that you don't
go in with a CV you go in you throw yourself in there you take
action and you're right people do ring up and this thing of networking and stuff
people don't realize the importance of it to go and take action you know so
yeah absolutely and how do you feel after coming from a solo artist into working
(10:07):
with people because obviously you have your own way of doing
things, which has been successful your whole life. I mean, you were a kid when you started.
How do you feel sharing the stage now with this band?
You know, there's all these different personalities and stuff.
What is it like? Well, I'm lucky. I'm lucky enough that I've been blessed with
amazing kind of personalities.
And that can be the hardest thing. Over the years, I've worked with different
(10:28):
musicians and some people might have a different kind of outlook on what they want to do.
Some people might be more laid back. Some people are more driven. So just...
It's kind of trying to find the right people to kind of put around you.
And I'm lucky enough that anybody that I have worked with in the last few years have been amazing.
And they're happy kind of to be basically my band.
(10:50):
So I stand out there and they're just like, OK, Ciara, what do you want played?
What do you want done? And they're happy to just kind of almost let me stand
in the limelight. And they just. Yeah, exactly.
But they trust you because you're after doing it yourself solo.
So you're now making something bigger.
So obviously you're you're a good leader in that perspective you
know so that's that's a good thing yeah and
(11:13):
Darren is great in that Darren yeah god that's
brilliant since you're 16 and you still absolutely adore
him oh my gosh does he know how much you talk him up as well
well I see I have to because I know he's going to listen to
this and I have to say he
is now he kind of takes on the managerial role
so where I would be I kind of have like I
(11:34):
know what I want and I know what I want for my gigs and stuff
whereas like I'll say to him and we'll talk about
you know what our vision is and then he'll be
the he'll be the kind of little Hitler with people so it means then I
get what I want and then he looks like the bad person so
that suits me it's the yin and yang of the
relationship yeah Darren when she's multi-billionaire you
(11:55):
can come back now and take this podcast and sue her for
everything prenups left
right and center so you have
can I just get up the name of the first album that you mentioned there what was
the name of that one my album is
nepo baby nepo so that was
a bit of a tongue-in-cheek thing so like i've gone back to your first question
(12:16):
i was kind of seen by a lot of people that was just a case of again the christy
dignum sort of thing um and i used as i said it used to bother me it used to
really get in on me when I seen how hard I was working and I just.
Well, like, not that I'd expect credit from people, but I wasn't kind of,
(12:36):
I was just seen as Chrissie Diggins Arthur and not getting the acknowledgement
for the work that I genuinely was putting in and the hours I was putting in.
So I kind of decided that I was going to just go with it. I was going to be
called a nepo baby anyway.
It was my first album and I wanted to kind of make.
Make it a big name I didn't want to just like have a self-titled name so I thought
(12:59):
you know what I'll do a bit of a tongue-in-cheek title for it and I'll call
it Nepo Baby because I may as well be in on the joke.
No you're right get it and call it and screw whoever says it and and you've
you've put an album it's not just a one hit wonder or you're getting up and
and just singing and you're you've been doing this this has been a passion since
you were a kid so I don't think anyone can take that away from you so congratulations
(13:21):
on that and I look forward to seeing more on it
and I have a question down here what was
Christy like as a father growing up we all know
Christy is talented and we know him from his music but you don't often get to
hear or to talk to the likes of yourself and ask what was he like as a person
just a person and a father he was he was an amazing father he he was very much
(13:44):
on my level essentially because he was never really a grown-up but he was a bit of a Peter Pan.
That's like my pop. Yeah. And it's great because he always kind of made himself relatable to me.
So if I had something like, you know, when you're a teenager,
you might come into, you think that a drama is the biggest thing in the world
(14:04):
to ever happen to anyone.
He'd always have a way of talking me down and explaining to me.
And as I said, he'd kind of be on my own level. He'd make me understand,
look, it's not the end of the world.
This is a problem that's going to be over in two days.
And yesterday's chip paper type of thing.
And then as I've grown up, and especially in this industry, it's such a hard industry to be in.
As you know yourself, it's really, really difficult and it can be tough.
(14:26):
And so he strongly advised me against that as a teenager. He was like,
come here, get a trade, don't do it.
And because although he loved me singing, he knew how hard it would be.
And I was very, very soft as a kid. I would have went through a lot of bullying
and stuff. So he didn't want me putting myself into that situation.
But he fully supported me in it. And he was always great. He always gave great advice.
Well, do you know, I always believe that things that happen to us in life,
(14:50):
they definitely happen for a reason and they definitely build us up and give
us the character that we have.
I think people can look on the outside. So I think, I mean, I'm just talking
to you now and I've read up about you.
You're a lovely person and very humble and really nice to talk to. So thank you.
But for people, bullying people, there has to be something wrong with them,
them people, you know, why would you be bothered by anyone else unless you were jealous?
(15:10):
That's my take on bullies you were insecure or
you're you were jealous of them you know so you never really know
yeah and that's the thing you could kind
of be bitter towards those people or whatever but yeah I think you're definitely
right I think if they were lashing out at me there was obviously deeper issues
with them so 100% I love them yeah exactly and when you when you as a kid would
(15:33):
get up on stage did you ever have nerves was there ever a point that you looked
and said I said, oh my God, what have I done?
Why am I up here? Or was it just so natural to you?
To be honest, I always felt so much more comfortable on stage than I ever did
in my own skin, if that makes sense. Yeah. I would be, I would have been.
Kind of more nervous walking into a
(15:55):
shop and buying something than I would be walking
out onto a stage as mad as that might sound it was kind of it was
something that I was never very overly confident
in myself I was never I never had kind
of I always kind of had low self-esteem whether that comes from being bullied
or whatever when I was younger I struggled a lot with that and up until I mean
(16:17):
up until now yes that still creeps in and I'm I'm I'm about 60 now but like
Like you still kind of, that's something that kind of stays with you.
But being on stage and singing was something that I always felt so comfortable
in because I felt that that was something I was good at.
And anybody can say whatever they want about me, but that was something that
I was confident about. And confident, yeah.
(16:40):
Absolutely, yeah. It reminds me, my husband is a professional magician and he's actually,
if you see Paul when he's not on stage performing,
you look at him on stage performing you'd say oh my god i'm amazing
absolutely out of this world but if you see him off stage he's
holding almost like self-soothing himself and he's
a very shy person and like that he wouldn't have
(17:00):
the company he has tourette syndrome but he wouldn't have the confidence unless
he was on stage it's just crazy and a lot of people i even comedians
that get up and completely different as soon
as they're off stage they're completely different different characters yeah
so it's good that you found that and you're continuing to do that and and i
hope that you have many many years of success I'm sure you will and you're young
(17:21):
you are very young because this is a you can't see Ciara but Ciara is not old
or 90 now at all she's how old are you Ciara?
I'm actually 38. You're 38
okay well yeah yeah no 38
no well listen Ciara thank you so much for coming on to the podcast this is
honestly truly an honor I was a huge fan of your father's and the band so I'm
(17:43):
really really humbled to have you and I can't wait to share it with everybody
as well so thank you so much thanks for having me okay best of luck with everything thank you.
Good evening, everybody. Today's guest is Ciara Dignam, a female vocalist from Dublin.
Ciara has been singing on stages since the age of 13 with live performances
at the Tree Arena, Vicar Street, the Olympia Theatre, the National Stadium,
Cork Opera House and many more.
Ciara has been on stage with many big names in the music industry,
(00:23):
such as Christy Dignam, lead singer of Aslan, Mark Feely, Danny O'Reilly, Gavin James,
Paul Brady, Imelda May, Damian Dempsey, Paddy Casey and Munday.
Ciara is also the proud daughter of the late Christy Dignam who sadly passed away last year.
Christy was in a very famous band called Aslan. So thank you very much Ciara
(00:44):
for coming on to the podcast.
I'll start by just maybe asking a bit about yourself, your upbringing,
where you're from and how you ended up into music.
Thanks for having me. Yeah, I think, well, I was brought up in Dublin and my
dad, obviously, he was a singer.
So some people ask me if he hadn't been a singer, would I have went down that route?
(01:07):
But all I know is I've never wanted to do anything other than singing.
So I feel as though even if my dad was a plumber, I would still be a singer. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah when you were younger was there always like sessions in the house where
people would just get an instrument and you were just around it wanting to play
and not knowing at the time,
(01:27):
yeah I think I never knew any different so like
my dad would have always been kind he he just sang he didn't
he tried to play guitar he used to pick up a guitar he'd play like
two chords and then put it down and say that guitar sounds lovely
but that's just because he only knew those two chords which in
fairness to him is more than I know I can't I
don't want to have short nails for long enough to learn how to play guitar which
(01:49):
would be so handy for songwriting and stuff but luckily enough my husband plays
guitar and piano so I can rely on him for that but yeah it was always kind of
the band would rehearse in the house a lot and stuff like that and I would have
always been in the studio and things like that so it was kind of normal for me.
Oh that's beautiful and tell me this you are part of a six-piece band at the
(02:10):
moment who are the theaters in the band and And how did it form?
So I've been gigging since I was 12. So when I started off, as I said, I didn't play anything.
So at the time, I'd kind of go into places with backing tracks and stuff.
So then as I kind of progressed, I wanted live musicians with me.
(02:32):
And then I had met my husband, Darren, when I was 16.
So we've kind of been together since then.
It's all gone downhill for him and me since then.
And so Darren's kind of been my right hand man since then.
He's been, like whether it was tracks, he'd always be me.
He'd kind of sort out the music for me and then going forward,
then he started to play guitar and stuff for me.
(02:54):
So he then kind of handpicked band members to put around me.
So yeah, it's kind of been.
That's brilliant. So Ciara, Darren is actually in the band.
Yeah. Yeah. So we kind of, we live together, we work together and I haven't killed him yet.
And you're together since 16. That is really, really, really interesting. Seriously.
(03:14):
Honestly, I'm married two years and I was told happy wife, happy life.
That's what my husband's been told when he's out.
Absolutely. Yeah. Everett, because you have now, obviously you've reached your own level of success.
And I know that, you know, this is a journey you're always going to want to do and be better.
Like you said you were a solo artist and then you wanted to go bigger with
(03:34):
with a band but does it ever bother you I suppose if people see you would they
reckon are they recognizing you for your music now or they'd be like oh my god
it's Christy's daughter or Adlan or does that annoy you and do you kind of want
to have your own personality and your own music and be known for that or does
that does that bother you?
I think for a long time it was always kind of Christy Dignam's daughter in inverted
(03:57):
commas I suppose and it used to bother me and because I was kind of out there
working and trying to kind of forge my own path.
I brought my album out late last year and it's gradually starting to get to cure it now.
Like I think I'll always be known as Chrissy Diggins' daughter.
And as much as that used to kind of annoy me.
(04:18):
And it's again, I would say annoy me in a bit. I don't mean annoy me, annoy me.
I mean, as I said, I was trying to kind of be out there on my own.
And like, I never even let my dad
come to gigs for that reason because I didn't want it to be about that.
I didn't want it to be you know i didn't want to make think anybody
i was talking off anyone's code strings and i was happy to work hard and deal
with myself but since he's passed i can kind of have a different perspective
(04:41):
on it now and i'm kind of i'm proud of i've always been proud of being his daughter
but now i kind of feel that i can kind of represent him now as well he's not
here to kind of sing anymore so i can.
You know be the singer of the family I suppose and
keep absolutely and it will it
will move on through you you're going to no matter where you go
(05:02):
music is in you I can't see you doing anything else now
this is something that you've decided as a kid that you wanted to do
when kids were out playing on the streets you know I
mean I know when I was a kid if I was even asked
to go and play an instrument we used to play the recorder in school I don't remember
if you remember those days they were all caught yeah and
we would cry having to learn this but I mean it's in
(05:24):
your blood though so yeah please god it will
keep going so tell me what's next step for the band you've
obviously played a lot of places around in Ireland do
you intend to leave Ireland or is it just Ireland that
you want to focus on well when I first launched the
album I was kind of thinking just get Ireland you
know try to establish myself in Ireland and that can take a couple
(05:45):
of years especially I was gigging kind of a lot at the
beginning of my career I was doing a lot of covers and stuff like
that so because I'm kind of doing my own music
now and building on that that is going to
take time and I'm happy I'm happy for that I'm happy to kind
of put the work in that doesn't bother me and so my
plan was kind of trying not conquer Ireland but
(06:05):
you know to kind of make get it you know establish myself
in Ireland really and then start to move outside side.
But there's an awful lot of interest in England which
I didn't expect so like I went over
and I was asked to sing at the Irish Post Awards in London just before Christmas
so I made a lot of connections with that and since then I was actually brought
(06:26):
back over in February to sing and I've been booked to go back over in August
to Birmingham so it's a career if anybody wherever anybody if people want me
singing in China I am on that flight I don't have plans.
So in august do you have a date because obviously i'm living over in the uk
now i'm living in york and birmingham isn't so far away so if you have a date
perhaps we can go see you yeah absolutely it's i'm trying to think is it the
(06:51):
20 i think it might be the 24th 24th of august it's a festival,
try and get the name of it but it's i think they have a lot of irish in the area you.
Lovely. Yeah, no, I would be definitely interested to go there.
You can send it to me afterwards. It's no problem.
I have a written down, so I'm sure if I Google.
(07:13):
It's in Crown. It's the Crown in Birmingham on the 24th of August.
The old Crown. The old Crown.
So as far as I've gathered, they seem to have a big Irish community there.
So I'm really looking forward to getting over them.
Yeah, that's brilliant. And I suppose everywhere, like even when I lived in
Toronto, there was a huge Irish community.
I mean, there was 80,000 people on Facebook alone that would follow this, you know, anywhere.
(07:39):
What was it, Irish and New in Toronto, if you go on it. I
used to cut hair so I was barbering and
I'd literally just put up a poster I was an Irish barber 20 pounder
haircut because they were all charging 60 I was out the door I
was able to open up my own place within a few weeks so it was brilliant great
stuff and you always get no matter where you go if you go outside Ireland you'll
(08:00):
always get amazing support from the Irish yeah that's very true they really
do they stick but they're good and tell me you have sold out of Vicar Street,
you've been on stage with Paul Brady, just brought back memories.
I love Paul Brady. Oh my gosh. Absolutely.
And I had Paddy on two weeks ago, such a gentleman, really, really nice person. And an absolute genius.
(08:23):
Yeah. Yeah. He was saying like, even just things, I don't think he realizes he's a genius.
I really don't. He was saying like if during lockdown, if somebody was there
and he wanted to make a song where you have to think of lyrics,
you have to think, and I'm like, wow, that's really good actually.
Because everyone has a different perspective on how to take things up. So, yeah.
So tell me about this. How did you get, and Gavin James, this is brilliant.
(08:44):
Talk to me about these people and you've shared stages with them.
Were you gigging and they'd come on or you'd be at the same show? No.
Yeah a lot of times a lot of them are kind of you know these a
lot of times you meet people at charity gigs and stuff like that
where there's a collection of musicians coming on
to sing songs so a lot of times that that's where I would meet them and you
(09:04):
make connections and then you kind of you meet down the road and then sometimes
with those connections you can get in and start song writing with these people
so it's great to have those gigs and have those connections that you You just
don't know one night you could go on,
sing a song and just introduce yourself to somebody.
And four months, five months down the road, you can hear something like they
(09:24):
might they might have heard me on the night and say, actually,
Cameron might be good for this next gig I'm thinking of or this next song I'm thinking of.
Or I might think the same about them. So that's what that's what's great about
about the music community that making those little connections,
you just never know what might come of it.
Absolutely. Yeah, no, I'm in the creative industry myself.
And I have to say I wish I did it 10 years before I
(09:45):
wish I knew about it 10 years before because like that you don't
go in with a CV you go in you throw yourself in there you take
action and you're right people do ring up and this thing of networking and stuff
people don't realize the importance of it to go and take action you know so
yeah absolutely and how do you feel after coming from a solo artist into working
(10:07):
with people because obviously you have your own way of doing
things, which has been successful your whole life. I mean, you were a kid when you started.
How do you feel sharing the stage now with this band?
You know, there's all these different personalities and stuff.
What is it like? Well, I'm lucky. I'm lucky enough that I've been blessed with
amazing kind of personalities.
And that can be the hardest thing. Over the years, I've worked with different
(10:28):
musicians and some people might have a different kind of outlook on what they want to do.
Some people might be more laid back. Some people are more driven. So just...
It's kind of trying to find the right people to kind of put around you.
And I'm lucky enough that anybody that I have worked with in the last few years have been amazing.
And they're happy kind of to be basically my band.
(10:50):
So I stand out there and they're just like, OK, Ciara, what do you want played?
What do you want done? And they're happy to just kind of almost let me stand
in the limelight. And they just. Yeah, exactly.
But they trust you because you're after doing it yourself solo.
So you're now making something bigger.
So obviously you're you're a good leader in that perspective you
know so that's that's a good thing yeah and
(11:13):
Darren is great in that Darren yeah god that's
brilliant since you're 16 and you still absolutely adore
him oh my gosh does he know how much you talk him up as well
well I see I have to because I know he's going to listen to
this and I have to say he
is now he kind of takes on the managerial role
so where I would be I kind of have like I
(11:34):
know what I want and I know what I want for my gigs and stuff
whereas like I'll say to him and we'll talk about
you know what our vision is and then he'll be
the he'll be the kind of little Hitler with people so it means then I
get what I want and then he looks like the bad person so
that suits me it's the yin and yang of the
relationship yeah Darren when she's multi-billionaire you
(11:55):
can come back now and take this podcast and sue her for
everything prenups left
right and center so you have
can I just get up the name of the first album that you mentioned there what was
the name of that one my album is
nepo baby nepo so that was
a bit of a tongue-in-cheek thing so like i've gone back to your first question
(12:16):
i was kind of seen by a lot of people that was just a case of again the christy
dignum sort of thing um and i used as i said it used to bother me it used to
really get in on me when I seen how hard I was working and I just.
Well, like, not that I'd expect credit from people, but I wasn't kind of,
(12:36):
I was just seen as Chrissie Diggins Arthur and not getting the acknowledgement
for the work that I genuinely was putting in and the hours I was putting in.
So I kind of decided that I was going to just go with it. I was going to be
called a nepo baby anyway.
It was my first album and I wanted to kind of make.
Make it a big name I didn't want to just like have a self-titled name so I thought
(12:59):
you know what I'll do a bit of a tongue-in-cheek title for it and I'll call
it Nepo Baby because I may as well be in on the joke.
No you're right get it and call it and screw whoever says it and and you've
you've put an album it's not just a one hit wonder or you're getting up and
and just singing and you're you've been doing this this has been a passion since
you were a kid so I don't think anyone can take that away from you so congratulations
(13:21):
on that and I look forward to seeing more on it
and I have a question down here what was
Christy like as a father growing up we all know
Christy is talented and we know him from his music but you don't often get to
hear or to talk to the likes of yourself and ask what was he like as a person
just a person and a father he was he was an amazing father he he was very much
(13:44):
on my level essentially because he was never really a grown-up but he was a bit of a Peter Pan.
That's like my pop. Yeah. And it's great because he always kind of made himself relatable to me.
So if I had something like, you know, when you're a teenager,
you might come into, you think that a drama is the biggest thing in the world
(14:04):
to ever happen to anyone.
He'd always have a way of talking me down and explaining to me.
And as I said, he'd kind of be on my own level. He'd make me understand,
look, it's not the end of the world.
This is a problem that's going to be over in two days.
And yesterday's chip paper type of thing.
And then as I've grown up, and especially in this industry, it's such a hard industry to be in.
As you know yourself, it's really, really difficult and it can be tough.
(14:26):
And so he strongly advised me against that as a teenager. He was like,
come here, get a trade, don't do it.
And because although he loved me singing, he knew how hard it would be.
And I was very, very soft as a kid. I would have went through a lot of bullying
and stuff. So he didn't want me putting myself into that situation.
But he fully supported me in it. And he was always great. He always gave great advice.
Well, do you know, I always believe that things that happen to us in life,
(14:50):
they definitely happen for a reason and they definitely build us up and give
us the character that we have.
I think people can look on the outside. So I think, I mean, I'm just talking
to you now and I've read up about you.
You're a lovely person and very humble and really nice to talk to. So thank you.
But for people, bullying people, there has to be something wrong with them,
them people, you know, why would you be bothered by anyone else unless you were jealous?
(15:10):
That's my take on bullies you were insecure or
you're you were jealous of them you know so you never really know
yeah and that's the thing you could kind
of be bitter towards those people or whatever but yeah I think you're definitely
right I think if they were lashing out at me there was obviously deeper issues
with them so 100% I love them yeah exactly and when you when you as a kid would
(15:33):
get up on stage did you ever have nerves was there ever a point that you looked
and said I said, oh my God, what have I done?
Why am I up here? Or was it just so natural to you?
To be honest, I always felt so much more comfortable on stage than I ever did
in my own skin, if that makes sense. Yeah. I would be, I would have been.
Kind of more nervous walking into a
(15:55):
shop and buying something than I would be walking
out onto a stage as mad as that might sound it was kind of it was
something that I was never very overly confident
in myself I was never I never had kind
of I always kind of had low self-esteem whether that comes from being bullied
or whatever when I was younger I struggled a lot with that and up until I mean
(16:17):
up until now yes that still creeps in and I'm I'm I'm about 60 now but like
Like you still kind of, that's something that kind of stays with you.
But being on stage and singing was something that I always felt so comfortable
in because I felt that that was something I was good at.
And anybody can say whatever they want about me, but that was something that
I was confident about. And confident, yeah.
(16:40):
Absolutely, yeah. It reminds me, my husband is a professional magician and he's actually,
if you see Paul when he's not on stage performing,
you look at him on stage performing you'd say oh my god i'm amazing
absolutely out of this world but if you see him off stage he's
holding almost like self-soothing himself and he's
a very shy person and like that he wouldn't have
(17:00):
the company he has tourette syndrome but he wouldn't have the confidence unless
he was on stage it's just crazy and a lot of people i even comedians
that get up and completely different as soon
as they're off stage they're completely different different characters yeah
so it's good that you found that and you're continuing to do that and and i
hope that you have many many years of success I'm sure you will and you're young
(17:21):
you are very young because this is a you can't see Ciara but Ciara is not old
or 90 now at all she's how old are you Ciara?
I'm actually 38. You're 38
okay well yeah yeah no 38
no well listen Ciara thank you so much for coming on to the podcast this is
honestly truly an honor I was a huge fan of your father's and the band so I'm
(17:43):
really really humbled to have you and I can't wait to share it with everybody
as well so thank you so much thanks for having me okay best of luck with everything thank you.
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