Gratitude to Ross Graham and Freerange Records

Yesterday was a goodbye to a legend of the Northern Ireland Music Industry, Ross Graham. Ross was CEO Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission. He had a successful career and unwavering enthusiasm for music.

I first met Ross at a PRS showcase. Back in 1995, Northern Ireland experienced an explosion of energy in the indie scene. As the Peace process kicked in, there was a real underground vibe. So many bands and gigs. Belfast was vibrant and excited about the future. We were living on the cusp of the internet. The first person I remember talking about it, was Jonny Quinn. He set up a company called Generation X. He got photos taken, and he was starting a thing called a website. It took 5 minutes to load the page. Jonny was my manager, and he told me he was going to move to Glasgow to join a band called Snow Patrol.

Then he said, he had secured me a deal with FreeRange Records and Ross Graham was going to take over the management. Ross had built a recording studio, and so we began work on the first record, according to Ursula Burns.

First, we released an EP called Sinister Nips.

Click Me

The debut Album

Click Me

Looking back, I feel sorry for Ross trying to manage me. He wanted things to go mainstream, and I was resisting that. I turned down Riverdance cause I didn't want to fall into the stereotypical harp image. He had the patience of a saint. I wanted to reinvent the harp, and our marketing was "The Harpist who is Hip" We made postcards and posters and put them up around town, before playing gigs. I had only been playing harp for about 6 months and was still working out how to tune the damn thing. The songs were hot off the press and I was experimenting with the harp. Ross was patient and kind and had a great sense of humour and fun. The album took 3 years to complete, but almost immediately, the gig scene took a massive upturn and gathered speed.

We went straight from the back bar of the Duke of York, to a 30-date stadium tour with Jimmy Nail. Jimmy had just finished filming Evita with Madonna and had heard me on Women's Hour and asked me to come on the, On the Boards tour. Ross got me a nomination for the HotPress Awards, that took place in Belfast and we were sitting at the table beside Ronnie Drew when Bono came up and casually said hello.

Of course, this was all before I owned a camera, and I have to pinch myself to look back at how exciting it was then. We flew to Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, New York, Philadelphia and Boston. We met Nick Cave and Lou Reid and played at the same festival as Tom Waits in Lissard Foundation in Cork. Nick Cave smoked Nora McCauley's fags and bought her two packets in return. Then he sat in the front row of the show, but I could tell he wasn't impressed. I can't even remember all the places we went to play. All with the harp. We were laughing all the way to Helsinki when the harp tag said Destination Hell. I kept that sticker on the flight case for the next 10 years.

Ross flew me first class over to the Royal Albert Hall to support the Blue Nile. My whole family came over for the gig and we had a party in the dressing room. Bill Morgan and Hans den Brok both turned up with their harps, and we had a Paraguayan session in the dressing room. Everybody got so drunk. I stole the towel from the dressing room. It was the thickest, fluffiest towel I had ever seen and I am not proud, but honestly, I still use it to this day. My Dad sneaked on stage and sang, "Minnie the Mermaid "to the cleaners, after the gig and was dragged out of the place shouting, "I sang in the Albert Hall" Our family still laugh at that. I remember Ross laughing and trying to keep it all together. We were all quite wild. Not sure the very posh backstage had seen anything like it -from a harp act!.

He secured a spot on the first-ever recording for Across the Line with Mike Edgar. I was so nervous I remember him getting me a brandy to calm my nerves.

Ross was such a great man. I was full of regret yesterday as I sat at his funeral, that I never apologised to him for being such a twat and not following his advice. And never properly thanking him for all he did. I was young, and in hindsight, I appreciate the amount of work he put in. He was a great man. He loved Music and he loved a buzz. He created one. I was deeply sorry to hear of his passing and understand how much his family will miss his larger-than-life character.

Deepest Sympathies to his wife Nu pictured, and children, extended family, colleagues, May he rest in Peace.