Cookstown singer Justin McGurk can’t do too many gigs these days without having someone let him know that he performed at their wedding a long time ago.
The 48-year-old is perhaps best known for his many travels around the country with his band the Boogie Men, and is still gigging to this day, 25 years after he first started.
Ahead of the release of his new song and video for ‘Come Back to Love’, Justin reflects on the fateful day he decided to pursue a career in music, while on top of a chimney in a building site on a freezing morning.
READ MORE: Peter Donnelly: Family’s tribute to 'thoughtful and caring' Co Tyrone student after sudden death
“I wasn’t much of an academic and hadn’t much interest in school because I didn’t get going to the school that all my friends went to,” Justin told MyTyrone.
“So as a get out of class type of thing I wanted to get involved in any of the pantomimes or shows that the school was doing and had a notion that I could sing.
“That’s really how the love of music came about and I loved having that opportunity to sing, because it got me out of maths class.
“I had been out working on building sites and I can remember being up on the roof of a house one day in the frost and snow.
“My fingers were blue and I remember thinking there has to be an easier way of making a living.
“I remember I hit my thumb with a hammer and it started to go black underneath my thumbnail and that was the end of that.”
Later this year Justin’s song will feature on a new album he is releasing, alongside a book he has written on how to cope with grief and loss.
The new material deals with his wife’s cancer diagnosis and the loss of his eldest brother to a car accident when he was 13. Justin also recently returned to his studies to complete a counselling qualification.
Justin added: “I consider myself very lucky to have been able to do it for the last 25 years and to have released so many CDs and albums.
“I hope to finish writing a book this year and I have an album that accompanies that book.
“The book has a soundtrack to it and every chapter has either a song or a poem assigned to that chapter.
“It’s largely around the topic of grief and experiences that I have had around grief and loss throughout life.
“I found that a lot of songs that I had written were a way to express my feelings rather than going to counselling.
“Those things stay with you and the full effect of them aren’t realised until many years after that.”
READ MORE: Cookstown woman who opened one of Tyrone’s first pizzerias honoured with lifetime achievement award
Despite having already recorded 10 studio albums, many people’s fondest memories of Justin will be playing with the Boogie Men at weddings around the country, and it’s something that he loves to hear.
“I was playing at a gig in Corick House for an Irish dancing school and people kept coming up to me who had children dancing at the event,” he said.
“They all told me that I played at their wedding ten years or fifteen years ago. It’s lovely to hear those things and meet them people again.
“I still have a lot of passion for it and I still enjoy it, my own children are getting up now and they have an interest in music too.
“It’s great for anybody that can find a career and make a career out of something that they’re passionate about, and that’s what keeps me going.”
READ NEXT:
- Omagh shooting: John Caldwell remains "critically ill and heavily sedated" after attack
- Terrified kids ran and hid in bushes as John Caldwell shot at sports centre
- Who is John Caldwell? The senior officer who led several high-profile murder probes
- PSNI chief praises member of public who helped injured officer
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
