The Nearest to Perfect

In Castledermot, County Kildare, where Irish artist Michael English hails from, there are ruins of a Franciscan monastery which houses Western Europe’s oldest window. In a contradiction Kildare is also the home of Hewlett Packard. It’s this mix of the traditional and modern that is manifested in a son of Kildare, Irish musician and composer Michael English, a young man who celebrates tradition while at the same time bringing a modern twist in his music that provides a window to our emotions.

When I spoke to Irish singer Michael last year he told me that the next day he was off to film a DVD for one of his early recordings, that announced his presence on the Irish music scene. That song is ‘The Nearest to Perfect’ written by ‘The Mainliner’s’ Henry McMahon and recorded by Michael in 1997. Amazingly the song has never had a DVD clip.

It seems suiting that Michael’s early song is called ‘The Nearest to Perfect’ because this humble young man, with all his accomplishments is literally the ‘nearest to perfect’ at what he does.

It’s quite a litany of achievements even at his relatively young age. Among them this all round entertainer has captured the all Ireland ballroom dance champion five years in a row!

Michael waltzed into ballroom dancing as an equally fine Irish dancer, an ability I can attest to having seen Michael doing a spot of Irish dancing in Westport, Ireland last year.

Michaels music tuition began at Carlow’s ‘Hennessy School of Music’ and was further honed at The Royal Irish Academy of music in Dublin.

Michael is a fine singer, pianist and malodian/accordion player. The latter ability he may have inherited from his Dad but his whole family is musical, his mum is a singer and Irish dancer and two sisters play the fiddle and piano. For Michael music was the only career he could imagine (although he would have considered music teaching) and he has embraced being an entertainer completely, with the desire to do even more, including taking up acting and with something of ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’ look about him and some acting experience from filming his music DVD’s, it no doubt he will excel at this too.

In his spectacular show Michael includes, singing, dancing, piano playing, and a hint of humour of the old fashioned variety as he bemoans the fact that present day comedians require ‘profanity’ to create a laugh when it can be achieved without resorting to language that may embarrass or make some of the audience feel uncomfortable.

Michael also prefers a substantial song lyric that tells a story and has some depth to it, for that reason you wont see him singing many of today’s popular pop songs. Instead he prefers many of the classic songs of the past for their meaningful lyrics however, Michael is also a fine composer and includes in his performance many of his own songs as well. Many would say his own songs show a depth beyond his years dealing as they do with strong emotions of love and loss. Michael explains that the songs are often formed from friends experiences such as his most recent song ‘Til Then’. The song is continuing to top the Irish charts and in an interesting piece of trivia has Michael’s own father playing the part of the ‘Dad’ in the DVD.

This song is not the only instance of Michael enlisting his parents collaboration. His hit ‘Locklin’s Bar’ featured his parents as extras. Indeed Michael shows a refreshing commitment to family with his parents cropping up not only in some of his music DVD’s but often accompanying him on tour.

This commitment to family maybe all the more stronger in the light of his Mum having been involved in a car accident some years ago which saw her separated from the family while she underwent recuperation. Thankfully, now Michael Mum is absolutely fine.

Michael away from music is never fully away, Yes he has many hobbies and interests including swimming and cycling every day and also enjoys painting (in the renovating sense) the house, in fact the last time he painted the house he wrote four songs!

Michael’s album ‘This is Michael English’ is out now. You can purchase his music and learn more about Michael at http://www.michaelenglish.ie/
Paula Xiberras