Aslan's Billy McGuinness said the band are praying for a miracle for their gravely-ill lead singer Christy Dignam.
Christy, 62, was diagnosed with the rare blood cancer amyloidosis in 2013 and his family this week revealed he is receiving palliative care at home. In his only interview since the devastating news broke, the guitarist who shared the stage with Christy for four decades told of his and the rest of the band’s heartache.
And he revealed the Finglas legend had been planning a duet with U2 frontman Bono for the band’s special 40th anniversary gig in the 3Arena in March. Billy, 62, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “The tears have been flowing. I’m absolutely devastated.
Read more: RTE's Late Late Show airs touching message to Christy Dignam amid health battle
“Christy isn’t just a fellow band member, he’s a best friend, all the lads in Aslan are. We are like a family.
“Our manager Denise is part of that family too and we all care for each other so much. Joe and Christy go back even further and know each other since they were six or seven years of age growing up in Finglas.
“That’s how far back they go. They are best mates, like brothers.
“As a musician, and I’m speaking for Joe and Alan here too, we have been through everything that a band could go through. We have broken up and got back together again and this just really hasn’t sunk in with us.
“It’s so hard for us to get our heads around this.” He added: “It’s devastating. Wouldn’t it be great if by some miracle he beat this?”
On Monday, Christy’s family revealed he was back home after spending six months in Beaumont Hospital and was now receiving
palliative care. His devastated bandmates confirmed all further planned gigs were cancelled.
Read more: Christy Dignam: Leave your messages of support as Aslan star receives palliative care
Billy said: “It’s like a bad dream, like a bomb has been dropped on us all. We were meant to be back together in rehearsals this week.
“We would have all been getting the gear out of storage and rehearsing, doing what Christy loves most. His life is music.
“We all agreed that there was never going to be a 3Arena gig without Christy having some part to play in it. Whether that be singing even a couple of songs and the guest performers the rest, or even just watching on.
“No musician wants to say ‘this gig is my last’ but I think Christy knew and wanted to say farewell to the fans and end it properly, on a high. Christy has been robbed of that chance. He has been performing for 40 years with the band which is a long, long time to be making music.
Read more: Christy Dignam's family confirm Aslan star is receiving palliative care
“Being on stage meant everything to him, it is his life.” Billy added: “Never mind the 3Arena, long term, we will never be on stage with him again.
“Our last gig was in Ballykeeffe on August 5 and little did we know that was going to be the last time we would all be on stage as a band together. After that we were making plans for the 3Arena and couldn’t wait.
“Ballykeeffe had been one of the better gigs we had done and we were all thinking, ‘This is brilliant, Christy’s flying’. At that gig in Ballykeeffe and some of the other gigs we had done he was singing like a lark at them.
“He seemed to be okay, the chemo was working.” The 3Arena gig – originally scheduled for September 2022 but postponed to March 2023 – was to be the climax of the band’s 40th anniversary tour and some big names were lined up to perform with Christy.
His old ‘rival’ Bono was planning to duet on the Aslan anthem ‘This Is’ with The Script also ready to join them on their mega hit Crazy World.
Billy revealed: “When we were making plans for the original 3Arena gig in September, before he went into hospital, he was in great form and we all had great plans. We reached out to Bono to get up on stage with Christy.
“We said to Bono how we were 40 years together and how great it would be for him to come down to the 3Arena to sing a song with us. We left it with him at that and on the Tuesday before the [gig] a representative for Bono rang Christy and went, ‘How are ya Christy?
“‘Bono is in Dublin and will be coming down for the sound check so you can do ‘This Is’ together’. Christy turned around to him and said, ‘I’m really sorry but Bono won’t be getting up with us. I’m in Beaumont Hospital, the gig is postponed.’
“I’m sure if he was in Dublin for the one in March he would have sung at that one too. Between Bono and Christy and the two of them being lead singers from the north side, they have a lot of respect for each other.
“Bono has a lot of time for Christy. Christy doesn’t lick Bono’s a**e and he calls it the way it is and I think Bono kind of respects that.
“There’s a love between the two of them.
“If it had of happened I’m sure it would have been phenomenal.”
He added: “We also got a message from Glen and Danny from The Script saying, ‘Sorry to hear your gig is cancelled but we will definitely be there for the one in March and we will do ‘Crazy World’ together. We were assuming that Christy was going to do the gig. We were going to have these special guests as well who were going to get up with him.”
When first diagnosed a decade ago Christy was given little hope by doctors but he defied the odds and battled on.
His bravery and honesty in speaking openly about his heroin addiction and his health struggles have made him a national treasure.
Billy said: “When Christy was first diagnosed I remember going up to see him in Beaumont Hospital and I came out of there and I was bawling crying.
“I always wondered how Aslan would end and I said to myself, ‘He’s not getting out of Beaumont’.
“Lo and behold he did and two years later we were gigging in the Olympia.
“Even now when you know he’s getting
palliative care, it hasn’t sunk in as he was so sick before and he pulled through it.”
He added: “I was lying in bed last night and reflecting on all the amazing gigs we have played together, all the great places we have travelled to.
“It’s weird because one side of me is saying we will never all get to perform together again and the other side is saying he will pull through this.
“Like I was proven wrong before and he pulled through... and that is stuck in my head.
“He was told back then that he had a year to live and proved us all wrong.
“The only thing back then was not being able to walk [his daughter] Kiera down the aisle, and even then he did it in a wheelchair.
“I keep saying to myself he’s a fighter. I thought he could fight this again but once you see palliative care come in it’s different.
“It was when the chemo stopped working, that’s when the troubles began. But even then I was saying to myself, ‘He has proved me wrong before and he’s going to prove me wrong again’.”
Fans shared their heartbreak at the news flooding social media with messages of support.
Among the well wishers was football legend Paul McGrath, RTE’s Ryan Tubridy and who played a throwback video of Christy performing Crazy World on Friday’s Late Late Show and urged him to stay strong. On Wednesday, the Finglas legend’s daughter Kiera sent a message to everyone who had sent him good wishes.
She said: “My dad just asked me to thank everyone for their support, well wishes and kind words over the last couple of days. It has been and will be tough but it’s really given him a boost so thank you all.”
Billy said he and bandmates Alan and Joe wanted to thank everyone for their social media messages, emails and texts as “it means so much and especially to Christy”.
He added that the outpouring of heartfelt messages “just show how much the Irish public love Christy”. He revealed: “My phone hasn’t stopped hopping, the whole music industry has been passing on wishes.
“Even support acts including Gavin James and The Coronas Aslan have had... they have all been coming forward and saying if they can help in any way at all they will.
“There’s a fondness for Christy because he is 100 per cent genuine and always has been. He is always honest about music and about his health and his drug addiction in the past.
“I think that’s what the Irish people really respect him for, his honesty.”
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