Christy Dignam was born on May 23, 1960, and grew up in the north Dublin suburb of Finglas.
He was raised by dad, Christy Snr, and his mum Teresa. He also had seven siblings Bernie, Deirdre, James, Brian, Therese, Jackie and Eddie.
He previously told how he grew up in a house where his mother was religious but his father wasn’t.
He said: “My father was totally anti-clergy because when he was a kid his mother used to give a shilling for this church collection.”
He said there were times when they didn’t have enough money for food but she always had this shilling for the priest.
“And then when his mother died they were trying to get the priest up to the gaff to bless her and because they hadn’t got the half-crown fee at the time the priest wouldn’t come up.
“So from then on he absolutely hated religion.
“It kind of gave us a healthy disrespect for authority and my da thought us to question everything we saw and not just accept things at face value.”
Christy studied bel canto singing at the Bel Canto House School of Singing in Dublin city.
It's with his band, Aslan that Christy found success with the band reaching top spot in the Irish charts with three of their first four albums.
Aslan formed in 1982 with Christy, Joe Jewell, Billy McGuinness, and Alan Downey and for 40 years, Aslan have remained one of the most popular bands in Ire-land.
Their musical journey began in 1986 when their first singe This Is shot them onto the charts after it was played first on 2FM. They followed up with their album Feel No Shame, which went to number one in the Irish album charts.
The band have gone on to produce a total of six studio albums but despite the mammoth music collection, it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
In 1988, at the height of their fame, and at the end of an American tour, Christy was sacked from the band – both for his lack of contribution and well-documented heroin usage.
It was 1993 before they would reunite and continue to bring their much-loved music to the world.
Speaking to The Irish Post, Christy previously reflected on the period of his life where drug and heroin addiction got the better of him.
He admits that from a young age he always felt a “gnawing hole” inside of him.
"I never felt high on heroin, it made me feel normal. It allowed me to deal with life." he said.
“When you got up in the morning you could not do anything until you got the heroin into ya, that’s the kind of way I operated.
“It was kind of like being on a hamster wheel.
“Imagine you are on a wheel and the wheel is spinning along, you take the heroin, and it slows it down, you can deal with life, but as the heroin wears off, the wheel starts getting faster until its spinning again, until you need heroin again".
He adds: "I was also self-conscious and would not have the confidence to walk into a shop. I have always felt very self-conscious, even when we were going to England with the band. I thought the people we met were very informed and would know more about being in a band than I did.
"I thought, you're only from Finglas, I had this inferiority complex".
It was not until Dignam sought help for his heroin addiction that he realised what caused the lifelong hole that he had tried to use drugs to fill the horror of being sexually abused as a child when he was just six years’ old by a neighbour and his brother’s friend.
"I went to treatment for the heroin addiction. I talked to a few people and my parents, I was trying to explain to them, maybe something happened to me when I was a child.
"I couldn't remember any of my own abuse, I had completely blocked it all out, and me Da looked at me as if to say it's a shame we did not love ya enough.
“I thought arr f**k, he's taking it the worst way.
"I explained that it was not like that, I left the house, looked at the hall door, and the whole thing came flooding back to me.
“I don't think I could have overcome the drugs if I had not dealt with the abuse, I think that was a lot of the reason why I was the way I was".
Dignam had been abused by a neighbour at the age of six.
The abuse continued for three years.
At the time, he told a childhood friend who said his older brother could help.
When he sought help from his friend’s brother, he wasn't helped but abused again, at the hand of the person he thought could save him.
While Dignam has spent much time facing his demons over the past three decades, life threw him another devastating curveball in 2013 when he was diagnosed with incurable cancer.
But the star continued to fight the blood cancer, taking regular trips to the Beaumont for chemo as well as trips to the UK.
He continued to make music and tour with the band, even embarking on a solo career with his own album.
“I just look at it like this, it's there, it's like the addiction, it's another kind of cross that you have to bear, but you just try and get on with it".
"When you get a condition like cancer it refocuses you, your priorities change and to be honest with ya when I got the news first, initially they told me I had six months to live, the only thing that was important to be at that moment was the family.
“Spending the time with them, like everything else, nothing else really mattered.
"I just want to be in their lives. To see [the grandchildren] growing up and be there for the little high points in their lives, I want to be part of that, ya know.”
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