The story of music - Mic Christopher
This article is going be a little bit different as I didn't have a chance to get to know the artist I'm going to tell you about personally but his music has had a huge impact on me anyway. Michael "Mic" Christopher was an Irish singer/songwriter born in New York on September 21st 1969 to Irish parents. They moved back to Ireland in 1972. Michael began busking on the streets of Dublin at the age of fifteen and it was there he made many friends, including Glen Hansard who became Mic's best friend.
In 1990 Mic formed the band The Mary Janes and the band released two albums. The band splits in 1999 and Mic goes on a short solo tour of Australia. After recovering from a motorbike accident in 2001 he writes his most famous song Heyday which became an anthem to whole generation and as Christopher himself used to say it's about every day being your best day. Highly optimistic song . After releasing an EP of the same title Mic was invited by Mike Scott of The Waterboys to join them on a tour. It was there the fate intervened. Mic suffered a head injury late one night, slipped into a coma and never recovered. He died on November 29th 2001 at the age of 32.
Huge loss for his family and friends but also for the music scene. Mic had been described as one of the most charismatic musicians of his generation. Prior to his death he had been working on his debut album entitled Skylarkin, which got finished posthumously thanks to the help of many of his friends and family and then released in 2002.
Here you can listen to The Mary Janes song called Friends, co-written with Rónán Ó Snodaigh of Kíla
Heyday
What makes him someone worth listening to? In my opinion it's the voice and powerful lyrics. He truly had a gift. Wrote lyrics you have to think about, for example, one of the verses of one of my most favourite songs says:
Let us never ever wonder
What our friendship could do
'Cause my songs don't know that I exist
And though I give them life it is
A friendship that will never grow
My songs are friends I'll never know
Skylarkin'
I discovered Mic's music later but I wish I knew him. Such an amazing talent and I believe a nice human being. I was deeply touched by the whole story and by the piece written by Glen Hansard in Mic's memory. So beautiful and sad at the same time. You can read the whole piece here: Glen Hansard's tribute to Mic Christopher
There are more videos in this article than usual, hope you don't mind. There are so many beautiful songs and I couldn't resist posting this one even though it's a cover but what an incredible version!
THANK YOU MIC!
