Birr man welcomes music legend to Ireland

Midlands man Cathal Ely welcomed the legendary music producer Phil Harding to Ireland last week when the production icon flew in from London for a series of media engagements ahead of his March 6 'In Conversation' event.

A native of Birr, Cathal is the manager of (and a D.J. Instructor at) the Sound Training College, the Temple Bar venue which will host the In Conversation with Phil Harding event next month.

Being in Dublin, Phil decided to drop into the Sound Training College to say hello, and Cathal was delighted to give Phil a special tour of the S.T.C. buildings while he was there.

"It was a pleasure meeting Phil", Cathal remarked afterwards, "as I would be familiar with so many of the artists and tracks that he's worked on."Cathal continued, "We're all looking forward to the March 6 event here in the Sound Training College. It's going to be of great benefit to our students - and to everyone who comes along on the night - having a chance to gain knowledge from such a hugely respected and successful producer as Phil."
 

The In Conversation event, incidentally, will see another midlander, Kinnitty's John McFadden, chat to Harding about his career in music and his latest book, Pop Music Production. Last week Harding, who produced Boyzone's first-ever #1, Words, and the Christmas smash from East 17, Stay Another Day, flew into Ireland for a full day of media promotion.

As well as talking to national publications like the Irish Daily Star and Hot Press magazine, Harding joined one of the biggest names in Irish music today, Gavin James, on the couch of The Six O'Clock Show on Virgin Media One, chatting to hosts Martin King and James Kavanagh. One interesting story he recounted was how Louis Walsh and Boyzone phoned him to say thank-you on the night Words went to #1, one of the few acts ever to make such a gesture.

Phil Harding was chief mix-engineer for the famed Stock, Aiken, and Waterman 'hit factory' during the 1980s, and during his distinguished career has worked with artists such as The Clash, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie, Rick Astley, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Dead Or Alive, Mel and Kim, Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle, Holly Johnson, Samantha Fox, the aforementioned Boyzone and East 17, and that's to name but a few.

As if the chance to hear some of the stories and lessons garnered during such an outstanding career wasn't already enough, one lucky attendee at next month's In Conversation event will also go home having won a special one-on-one consultation with the man himself.