He’s got multiple hit albums to his name and has toured the world, working with greats like Charlie Pride, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rodgers and Don Williams to name a few. If Dominic Kirwan could do it all again though, he’d be a professional Irish dancer.

Dancing in his home town of Omagh since the age of four or six, he was even a member of the well-respected Seamus Kerrigan School of Irish Dancing.

“It wouldn’t have been the thing for the boys to be doing at that time; it’s a lot more trendy today to be an Irish dancer,” he laughs.

“Even when I went we would have had to have worn the full regalia, the kilt and stuff you know. I made some great friends, had wonderful days and if life were to be lived again I would definitely be an Irish dancer.”

Thankfully for his fans, Dominic’s life took a different step.

Not long after joining the dance school one of his primary school teachers approached his late mother after a singing competition, telling her he had a very good voice.

“Little did we realise at the particular time that was how it was going to be. Omagh was very much a parochial town. You were very much taken on board from an early age anything that was happening on a local basis; be it through the school, church choirs, solo singing and then eventually competition. So yeah, it [his love of singing] did come from those days.

“I’ve been very lucky and fortunate that I’ve made a life out of it [music], I enjoy recording; it’s kind of a relaxed approach to singing because you can do it in your own time as such.

“The performance side I absolutely love; not to be corny but it’s like baking a cake you know, you have all the little ingredients and the mixtures and the wrapping it up and the baking of it you know so the performance would be the icing really.”

Dominic, famous for his take on country, pop, traditional Irish music and his show-stopping ballads, has just stepped out of the recording studio to chat about his visit to Felixstowe’s Spa Pavilion next Friday.

“I’m working on a new Christmas album. There’s nothing [else] to tell you [about it], we literally started working on it yesterday,” he laughs.

“It’s all about laying the tracks and making sure we’re happy with the arrangements and stuff. It’ll probably be released October or November; as you and I know Christmas has become much earlier you know. Very sad, but we’re not going to worry about those things.”

The latest tour is called Live and Personal, taking its name from his latest DVD.

“We thought we’ve recorded the DVD, we’ve got a lot of new material on it, let’s bring that type of show on the road. Then in around March I released my latest CD, Lord I Hope this Day is Good, an inspirational album; so the show’s really a mixture of both.

“The fans, they’ve been very loyal to me. They do like to hear some of the old favourites and no show is complete without doing some of them.”

And can they expect some dance moves?

“When I first started that was a kind of introduction, ‘I can do this as well’; but I don’t use it as much,” he laughs.

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