He's widely regarded as one of the world’s best harmonica players.
But Don Baker has revealed he owes his mastery of the wind instrument to an accident he had in his early childhood outside his north Dublin home - which resulted in him losing part of his tongue.
He recalled: “I was helping my mother with the pram up the steps.
“It was one of those really big old-fashioned prams and my mother had it by the handles, pulling it up those steps and I was pushing it from the other end.
“But she pulled it too quick, I went flying and took a lump out of my tongue. The doctor couldn’t stitch it, but they gelled it up.”
The veteran blues maestro said he later realised that the lasting injury had enabled him to play notes and belt out tunes on the mouth organs that he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.
He said: “Years went by after that little accident and I never really thought about it. Then one time I was adjudicating at the World Harmonica Championships and I was playing this particular tune on the harmonica, and all the guys there asked me to show them how to play it. A lot of them were better players than I was, but they just couldn’t do it, and I couldn’t fathom for the life of me why.
“A couple of weeks later I was brushing my teeth and noticed there was a chunk missing from my tongue, and then the penny just dropped. My tongue is able to manoeuvre around the harmonica in a different way. God works in mysterious ways.”
The 69-year-old father-of-five - who’s also known for his acting roles, including ‘In The Name Of The Father and Fair City - has made no secret of his turbulent childhood, which included being hospitalised for TB at just seven and later drifting into petty crime and landing up in a remand home.
He said it took 15 years of therapy for him to fully come to terms with the beatings and emotional abuse he suffered over a 15-year period in a reformatory school.
But in an interview with Ireland’s Own, Baker said life couldn’t be better - particularly since marrying long-term partner, Maureen, four years ago.
And speaking of the hotel the pair own in Co Meath, he admitted he has very little input in the day-to-day running of the business.
He added: “The hotel was my wife’s idea. I was told we’re opening a hotel. I’m just the musician. Other than playing music in the place, I don’t have much to do with it. My wife is the financial controller, so she looks after all of that. Although Maureen wouldn’t even let me change a lightbulb. I’m useless at that kind of thing.”
