Post by petrolino on Dec 24, 2023 1:30:19 GMT
Most Fanciables : Female / Male
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"Mascara Streakz has been a far more familiar assembly which has found Clare Grogan inviting some of her oldest friends to the sessions including original Altered Images bass player, Johnny McElhone (Texas), along with Bobby Bluebell (Robert Hodgens of The Bluebells).
“All we do is talk about Celtic,” says Clare of the Glasgow musicians. “We just have such a laugh, we are hopeless together. I wrote a song about Celtic ('Her Hooped Dream') and this was before the ladies' team. I was invited to sing it on the pitch which was hilarious and terrifying at the same time. It’s just part of who I am, there are two ways of looking at it but it’s always been a positive thing in my life.”
Grogan began life at Hill Street in Glasgow where Celtic FC was already a way of life. “My aunts and my uncle went over to Lisbon [in 1967], I remember looking for my aunts on the television. I was very young, Celtic winning the European Cup was like watching the first man on the moon, there’s that grain of memory for me trying to spot my aunties and uncle in the crowd. My uncle Robert drove to Portugal and flew back but totally forgot about his car!”
Born in 1962, Grogan celebrated her 60th birthday earlier this year on St Patrick's Day. The daughter of a Dublin-born mother, her Irish roots have been held close. “My mum was so proud of her Irish identity, this sense of loving where you come from is not something everyone has. It’s a big part of me too, I’d spend a lot of summer holidays with cousins in Dublin. I used to joke that wherever I am in the world there will always be a party on my birthday.”
Both parents were practising Catholics at a time when sectarianism was rife in Glasgow. “Catholicism is a funny thing. My Catholic upbringing means a huge amount to me. It’s such a complicated conversation now; I’m such a big believer in equality. I believe the Church needs to modernise, I really do because there is so much good within it and that’s just been trashed by the endless scandal. There is this reluctance to become more 21st century. For me having now lost my parents who were both devoted Catholics, the very least I can do for them now is still go to Mass, not every Sunday but now and again.”
Grogan began life at Hill Street in Glasgow where Celtic FC was already a way of life. “My aunts and my uncle went over to Lisbon [in 1967], I remember looking for my aunts on the television. I was very young, Celtic winning the European Cup was like watching the first man on the moon, there’s that grain of memory for me trying to spot my aunties and uncle in the crowd. My uncle Robert drove to Portugal and flew back but totally forgot about his car!”
Born in 1962, Grogan celebrated her 60th birthday earlier this year on St Patrick's Day. The daughter of a Dublin-born mother, her Irish roots have been held close. “My mum was so proud of her Irish identity, this sense of loving where you come from is not something everyone has. It’s a big part of me too, I’d spend a lot of summer holidays with cousins in Dublin. I used to joke that wherever I am in the world there will always be a party on my birthday.”
Both parents were practising Catholics at a time when sectarianism was rife in Glasgow. “Catholicism is a funny thing. My Catholic upbringing means a huge amount to me. It’s such a complicated conversation now; I’m such a big believer in equality. I believe the Church needs to modernise, I really do because there is so much good within it and that’s just been trashed by the endless scandal. There is this reluctance to become more 21st century. For me having now lost my parents who were both devoted Catholics, the very least I can do for them now is still go to Mass, not every Sunday but now and again.”
(Clare Grogan being petted by early mentor Siouxsie Sioux)
It was that background that led her to chase down a memorable role in one Father Ted episode (Rock a Hula Ted) as Niamh Connolly. “I saw the first series and it spoke to me. That was my childhood with all those eccentric priests coming to the house. There was something just glorious about it. I heard they wanted someone to play a rock star on Craggy Island that was based on Sinéad O’Connor and thought: ‘I have to get this job'.
“Seemingly when Sinéad saw it she said: ‘I don’t know why they just didn’t ask me?’ I’m so glad they didn’t. I’m just pissed off I didn’t get to do Derry Girls.” Grogan recently provided the voice for a cartoon recreation in the documentary film My Old School, co-starring Alan Cumming and Lulu about Brian MacKinnon, who at the age of 30 posed as a teenager to attend Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in Glasgow."
“Seemingly when Sinéad saw it she said: ‘I don’t know why they just didn’t ask me?’ I’m so glad they didn’t. I’m just pissed off I didn’t get to do Derry Girls.” Grogan recently provided the voice for a cartoon recreation in the documentary film My Old School, co-starring Alan Cumming and Lulu about Brian MacKinnon, who at the age of 30 posed as a teenager to attend Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in Glasgow."
- Richard Purden, Irish Examiner
Interview with Altered Images
“I was asked to do a tour with Kim Wilde and The Human League, originally I couldn’t see myself doing this in my 40s but Phil Oakey and Kim Wilde are like family and it kind of grew from there.”
- Clare Grogan on the return of Altered Images
STV (Scottish Television) Special : Altered Images [Parts 1 & 2]
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