Irish celebrities who suddenly vanished out of the spotlight

Skid X

GT89 wrote: »

Craig Doyle haven't seen him on Irish or UK TV in years

He is the lead Rugby anchor on BT Sport and does lots of Voiceover work

Still busy although not on our screens all the time like he was back in the day

RabbleRouser2k

Hangdogroad wrote: »

RTE were worse for making and putting out that poxy "documentary".

RTE have put out some of the worst supposed 'documentaries' you will see on TV.

A documentary is meant to educate you, or make you consider an opinion. Start out with one view, end up with another view-or leave the whole show after being like 'wow-my mind is blown'. (A great documentary that leaves you spent and undecided whilst also not being preachy is Capturing the Friedmans. It's a tragic, disturbing documentary).

RTE made stuff like 'Asking for it'-where Louise O'Neill, in the opening ten minutes, literally 'believe women'... and ends on that statement.
Never deviates

That's not a documentary-that's a failure.

Beechwoodspark

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Just because you got a plumb job in RTE means nothing only that you got degree from Dublin Business School (daddy bought scholarship). Gaybo was the same, everyone and their mother conned money out of him, including Simon Harris Grandfather. "The stock market and investments is no place for widows and orphans". 90% of people lose 90% of their wealth in 90 days, its known as the 90/90/90 rule.

Simon Harris grandfather?

Beechwoodspark

Hangdogroad wrote: »

O Gorman and Kevin Sharkey nearly came to blows behind the scenes apparently. Two deeply strange individuals.

Very true. Oddballs the two of them

Beechwoodspark

Muahahaha wrote: »

Sharkey has had somewhat of a recovery- he had an exhibit in Malahide just last weekend and sold out everything, I think it was around 40 paintings ranging in price from 1.5k up to 8k. So he is back on his feet at least to some extent.

But yeah in the boom he completely overextended himself. He had a galleries in London, New York and Ibiza all at the same time. The value of his paintings got a huge boost after Charles Saatchi became a collector and Sharkey tried to capitalise by making it a production line. But then the recession hit the art market hard and his gallieries failed.

At one point circa 2009 he had a small shop in Temple Bar where he personally sold his art, I popped in one day and had to resist the urge to ask him about Father Ted. He ran a promotion where everything was 500 euro, it was like a firesale of his art. A sister of mine bought one, beautiful piece that she still has in her living room.

He still has a place on south Frederick st but the place he had out at the development beside the point depot appears to be closed any time I’ve passed it in the last year or so

Beechwoodspark

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Very strange chap. He used to write a column in the Cork Examiner in the 90s where I remember he once claimed Aids can't be spread by hetro sex. Always got a weird vibe off him either on radio print or TV.

as they say “suffers from his nerves”

years ago By chance I observed him and a radio crew doing a recording in donnybrook village and he was berating and squabbling with his producer or whoever it was, between takes.

It was unpleasant. A very highly strung individual

Brock Turnpike

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

He still has a place on south Frederick st but the place he had out at the development beside the point depot appears to be closed any time I’ve passed it in the last year or so

Thank you. I knew I saw him in his art gallery somewhere recently. Was racking my brain trying to remember where.

Beechwoodspark

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Thank you. I knew I saw him in his art gallery somewhere recently. Was racking my brain trying to remember where.

Yeah bit of an odd location.

Possibly Harry Crosby involved in providing it there

Can’t imagine you would get much footfall or random drop ins from the street there

RabbleRouser2k

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

as they say “suffers from his nerves”

years ago By chance I observed him and a radio crew doing a recording in donnybrook village and he was berating and squabbling with his producer or whoever it was, between takes.

It was unpleasant. A very highly strung individual

He used to be able to get the 'mundane' people to genuinely open up, and you'd see they were far from mundane.

IF whatever was bugging O'Gorman he'd managed to get under control, he could have been a genuine talent.

Yyhhuuu

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Just because you got a plumb job in RTE means nothing only that you got degree from Dublin Business School (daddy bought scholarship). Gaybo was the same, everyone and their mother conned money out of him, including Simon Harris Grandfather. "The stock market and investments is no place for widows and orphans". 90% of people lose 90% of their wealth in 90 days, its known as the 90/90/90 rule.

That is incorrect about Simon Harris's grandfather conning Gay Byrne. It was the late Russell Murphy who embezzled Gay Byrne as Byrne entrusted him with a Power of Attorney. Not only did Russell Murphy steal money but he also ran up huge debts in Gay's name.

skooterblue2

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

That is incorrect about Simon Harris's grandfather conning Gay Byrne. It was the late Russell Murphy who embezzled Gay Byrne as Byrne entrusted him with a Power of Attorney. Not only did Russell Murphy steal money but he also ran up huge debts in Gay's name.

Apologies it was Minister Eoghan Murphy grandfather. Another dunce. How do these clowns get elected?

Beechwoodspark

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

He used to be able to get the 'mundane' people to genuinely open up, and you'd see they were far from mundane.

IF whatever was bugging O'Gorman he'd managed to get under control, he could have been a genuine talent.

His show was called o Gormans people

He used to hang around churches and grave yards and plague people with questions, that was my memory of it - it certainly wasn’t anything too exciting

ShamNNspace

Deandre Melted Glue wrote: »

I don't like the way he makes programmes always, as far as i know, about people who are less well off. 'Queing for a living' was in queues at social welfare places etc and now i think courts. They do not appear to see how clever he is giving them a 'voice' while he gets paid.


I didn't know about the AIDS

Ah I don't know it was good to hear people talk about their own lives in their own words instead of having their words filtered through some advocate group or other, a kind of oral history

Water John

No problem with the actual programme. As you say, peoples own words largely unfiltered.

Hangdogroad

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

His show was called o Gormans people

He used to hang around churches and grave yards and plague people with questions, that was my memory of it

He used to come across a bit leery when interviewing attractive young women. The normally hit and miss Bull Island nailed this perfectly in one of their sketches where they took the piss out of him.

Muahahaha

Skid X wrote: »

He is the lead Rugby anchor on BT Sport and does lots of Voiceover work

Still busy although not on our screens all the time like he was back in the day

Craig Doyle got into a bit of hot water back in 2004 when the BBC made him their anchor for the Athens Olympics. He was a disaster because it came quickly apparent that he knew next to nothing about athletics and viewers who did were pissed of that the BBC hired him just for his looks

The BBC's head of sport has leapt to the defence of embattled sports presenter Craig Doyle, after his role as one of BBC's Olympics anchors drew criticism from viewers and sports commentators.
Peter Salmon was forced to defend the 33-year-old former Holiday presenter after he was vilified by some viewers as a "moron" and a "himbo," who looked the part but knew "nothing" about Olympic sports.


Mr Salmon admitted the BBC had received complaints from viewers about the Irishman"s presenting style but said ratings for its Olympic coverage showed he was "one of the BBC's most popular presenters" on the sports roster.
"On some evenings up to 11 million people were watching the Olympics on the BBC but we received only a dozen complaints about Craig's presenting style during the whole of the games," Mr Salmon wrote in a letter to the Sunday Independent in Ireland.
Mr Salmon wrote the letter after the paper published a front page article headlined "Craig Doyle 'hated' in Britain". In the article journalist Lara Bradley interviewed the presenter's parents, who spoke of their "hurt" over a "vitriolic" campaign against Doyle, whose Olympic performance was widely slated.
Despite a CV that includes presenting BBC rugby, golf, horseracing, tennis and super bike racing, viewers said the Irishman lacked sufficient sports knowledge for the role. "Why Craig Doyle? Is this just because he is the best-looking man the BBC could come up with?" Labour MP Chris Bryant said halfway through the games.
On the BBC's own bulletin boards, Olympics fans were less kind. One called the 33-year-old Irishman a "buffoon," while another said his knowledge of sport would "just about cover the back of a postage stamp".
"Absolutely agree about appalling decision to let Doyle loose on sports commentary - he knows NOTHING!! And please keep him away from the Travel programme too!" wrote another.
"His naivety and condescending manner have stopped our family watching what was once an enjoyable programme."
Sir Paul Fox, a former BBC TV boss and now sports columnist at the Daily Telegraph, was also unforgiving.
"With the best will in the world, I find Craig Doyle unsuitable as a sports broadcaster. He has the looks, he has the Irish charm, but he has no feel for sport and at the Olympics he was out of his depth," he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/sep/06/broadcasting.bbc

Beechwoodspark

Hangdogroad wrote: »

He used to come across a bit leery when interviewing attractive young women. The normally hit and miss Bull Island nailed this perfectly in one of their sketches where they took the piss out of him.

Yep that’s true. He’d ask sort of provocative questions to them.

He also would go from “0-60” in terms of mood swings at times. A bit unstable I suppose.

His “trade mark” was his little jack russel dog and he usually had a hat on, people would literally say they recognized him because of the dog and the hat.

ShamNNspace

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Sinead Shepherd became a councillor in Cobh afterwards and would pop up in panto. Other than the other two you mentioned that's the depth of my knowledge on them.

I did know the father of Sarah Keating fairly well, all I can say is that he had a very low opinion of Louis walshe. Shes married in london now away from the limelight though shes still a great singer like her father of old showband stock

skooterblue2

ShamNNspace wrote: »

I did know the father of Sarah Keating fairly well, all I can say is that he had a very low opinion of Louis walshe. Shes married in london now away from the limelight though shes still a great singer like her father of old showband stock

I know someone semi famous who was with Louis Walsh in his early days. You have to remember that i think 1 in 50 artists signed will make it. The other 49 fall by the wayside. I always thought Simon Cowell was a right PoS being mean. He is actually doing you a favour telling you, you arent going to make it or this isnt the right industry for you. In fact playing pubs and clubs at the weekend is completely different to working full time in a band.

Its a crap industry unless you are in the top 0.0001% and you are still bled out by record labels, accountants, lawyers and entourage that are deemed necessarily. You can have the No.1 album in the states and still go bankrupt. There are much easier ways to make a living.

RabbleRouser2k

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

His show was called o Gormans people

He used to hang around churches and grave yards and plague people with questions, that was my memory of it - it certainly wasn’t anything too exciting

He'd often turn up to other places, meet the odd eccentric who was entertaining. It wasn't just graveyards, even somewhere mundane like a car boot sale would throw out some interesting characters.

Sad to hear about the AIDS thing, but there was so much misinformation going around then about the disease (some still believed it could be spread by breathing in air from an infected person) that his opinions on the disease were probably based in a generally ignorant, Catholic mandated Ireland.
Homosexuality was illegal in Ireland up until 1993. So the times were still odd.

skooterblue2 wrote: »

I know someone semi famous who was with Louis Walsh in his early days. You have to remember that i think 1 in 50 artists signed will make it. The other 49 fall by the wayside. I always thought Simon Cowell was a right PoS being mean. He is actually doing you a favour telling you, you arent going to make it or this isnt the right industry for you. In fact playing pubs and clubs at the weekend is completely different to working full time in a band.

Its a crap industry unless you are in the top 0.0001% and you are still bled out by record labels, accountants, lawyers and entourage that are deemed necessarily. You can have the No.1 album in the states and still go bankrupt. There are much easier ways to make a living.

Back when Cowell was honest, yes, he could be very helpful. Unfortunately, he saw that money could be made from even the most untalented individual, so he stopped caring.

I know Samantha Mumba blames everyone and their granny for her failed career.
Dave Fanning, Louis Walsh, among a few others.

But the 'Popstars' bands (in UK/ US/ Ireland etc etc) had extremely short shelf lives (12 months maximum, and that's being generous). Pop Idol had a better success, but only marginally so.

Muahahaha

skooterblue2 wrote: »

I know someone semi famous who was with Louis Walsh in his early days.

Back in the 90s I knew a guy who worked in the music industry in Westland recording studios on Lombard St. He was telling me that back then Louis Walsh was trying to form Boyzone and was asking anyone and everyone he knew for a IR£10k investment into the band. Im not sure what percentage the 10k was for but know everyone laughed at his idea of a Irish boyband trying to replicate the likes of New Kids on the Block in the US. My mate had been offered the investment (as were loads of others) but refused it. In the end John Reynolds of Pod fame (and Alberts nephew) took a punt on Boyzone which paid off handsomely for him.

I do wonder though what John Reynolds' reaction might have been to him watching them on that disastrous Late Late show appearance where they had no song to sing and just lept around dancing like eejits. He must have thought 'well thats my £10k blown anyway, I cant believe I invested into that sh1t'. I watched it again lately, its a great bit of car crash tv, even Gay Byrne is like WTF? Though I've gotta give it to Stephen Gately (RIP), he gives it absolute socks with his mad dancing, he was like a man possessed that night, its very entertaining.

RabbleRouser2k

Muahahaha wrote: »

Back in the 90s I knew a guy who worked in the music industry in Westland recording studios on Lombard St. He was telling me that back then Louis Walsh was trying to form Boyzone and was asking anyone and everyone he knew for a IR£10k investment into the band. Im not sure what percentage the 10k was for but know everyone laughed at his idea of a Irish boyband trying to replicate the likes of New Kids on the Block in the US. My mate had been offered the investment (as were loads of others) but refused it. In the end John Reynolds of Pod fame (and Alberts nephew) took a punt on Boyzone which paid off handsomely for him.

I do wonder though what John Reynolds' reaction might have been to him watching them on that disastrous Late Late show appearance where they had no song to sing and just lept around dancing like eejits. He must have thought 'well thats my £10k blown anyway, I cant believe I invested into that sh1t'. I watched it again lately, its a great bit of car crash tv, even Gay Byrne is like WTF? Though I've gotta give it to Stephen Gately (RIP), he gives it absolute socks with his mad dancing, he was like a man possessed that night, its very entertaining.

I'd say Shane isn't a fan of it.

skooterblue2

Muahahaha wrote: »

Back in the 90s I knew a guy who worked in the music industry in Westland recording studios on Lombard St. He was telling me that back then Louis Walsh was trying to form Boyzone and was asking anyone and everyone he knew for a IR£10k investment into the band. Im not sure what percentage the 10k was for but know everyone laughed at his idea of a Irish boyband trying to replicate the likes of New Kids on the Block in the US. My mate had been offered the investment (as were loads of others) but refused it. In the end John Reynolds of Pod fame (and Alberts nephew) took a punt on Boyzone which paid off handsomely for him.

I do wonder though what John Reynolds' reaction might have been to him watching them on that disastrous Late Late show appearance where they had no song to sing and just lept around dancing like eejits. He must have thought 'well thats my £10k blown anyway, I cant believe I invested into that sh1t'. I watched it again lately, its a great bit of car crash tv, even Gay Byrne is like WTF? Though I've gotta give it to Stephen Gately (RIP), he gives it absolute socks with his mad dancing, he was like a man possessed that night, its very entertaining.

I remember there was this group from Limerick called Area 4. You know a generic run of the mill boyband with "business men" behind them. So RTE did a documentary on them.
So the lads life was on hold while they were waiting for a record deal. Their parents had bought all their clothes, the business men had paid for recording time, demo CDs, image consultants, photo sessions ..... blah blah blah.
We are talking about £100,000 with no tangible results yet!!! This is money borrowed from the business men by the band to be repaid by the band when they make it.
The real reason I suspect they didnt make it is because they had no big name to carry their CDs into a meeting or be packaged with another artist.
Another thing they dont tell you is there is only one to three artists on the label the other 47 artists are there waiting for their turn and your success has to carry you, the label and the other 47 other artists!!! No pressure.

So give your child a clip around the ear send them up to their room and tell them to study science or accounting or maths. So something that wont have them depending on what humour Simon Cowell is when he gets up in the morning.

If I had 10k and given a choice between a music band and lotto tickets (which I despise) I would put my money on the lotto tickets.

Hangdogroad

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

I'd say Shane isn't a fan of it.

Shane Lynch is a surly humourless tool who takes himself way too seriously. He has some weird god bothering views as well.

Muahahaha

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

I'd say Shane isn't a fan of it.

lol always nice to see Tubs getting told to shove it up his hole

RabbleRouser2k

skooterblue2 wrote: »

I remember there was this group from Limerick called Area 4. You know a generic run of the mill boyband with "business men" behind them. So RTE did a documentary on them.
So the lads life was on hold while they were waiting for a record deal. Their parents had bought all their clothes, the business men had paid for recording time, demo CDs, image consultants, photo sessions ..... blah blah blah.
We are talking about £100,000 with no tangible results yet!!! This is money borrowed from the business men by the band to be repaid by the band when they make it.
The real reason I suspect they didnt make it is because they had no big name to carry their CDs into a meeting or be packaged with another artist.
Another thing they dont tell you is there is only one to three artists on the label the other 47 artists are there waiting for their turn and your success has to carry you, the label and the other 47 other artists!!! No pressure.

So give your child a clip around the ear send them up to their room and tell them to study science or accounting or maths. So something that wont have them depending on what humour Simon Cowell is when he gets up in the morning.

If I had 10k and given a choice between a music band and lotto tickets (which I despise) I would put my money on the lotto tickets.

Thats one of the things I admired about folks like John O'Shea and Richie Sadler. (Not musicians, but footballers).

Their parents were like 'Yeah, you can pursue your passion, but finish secondary school first. Sadler's club also made sure they had training in something else, while they were playing football. Made sure if they suffered football ending injuries, they had a backup. (Sadler trained as a psychotherapist while at his club. When he quit football at 24/ 25, he progressed further with an MA).

Not that you need to go that route. Plenty of lads got solid jobs that are eclipsing me in life. Just avoid the music industry, unless you want to go into I'm a Celebrity in about 5 or 6 years.

I know someone who competed on a Song contest on TG4 (I think it was Nollaig Number 1, a show that ran at the height of X-factor's domination of the Xmas charts. They didn't win. Mary Byrne won that, a year or two before she entered Xfactor. Byrne's song sold a whopping 20 copies. Yes, twenty).
Those shows create inflated egos, frankly.

skooterblue2

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Thats one of the things I admired about folks like John O'Shea and Richie Sadler. (Not musicians, but footballers).

Their parents were like 'Yeah, you can pursue your passion, but finish secondary school first. Sadler's club also made sure they had training in something else, while they were playing football. Made sure if they suffered football ending injuries, they had a backup. (Sadler trained as a psychotherapist while at his club. When he quit football at 24/ 25, he progressed further with an MA).

Not that you need to go that route. Plenty of lads got solid jobs that are eclipsing me in life. Just avoid the music industry, unless you want to go into I'm a Celebrity in about 5 or 6 years.

I know someone who competed on a Song contest on TG4 (I think it was Nollaig Number 1, a show that ran at the height of X-factor's domination of the Xmas charts. They didn't win. Mary Byrne won that, a year or two before she entered Xfactor. Byrne's song sold a whopping 20 copies. Yes, twenty).
Those shows create inflated egos, frankly.

That is the most moral thing I have read today. Training lads in case "the dream" doesnt work out. I know a lad about 40 used to play for Tramere as a kid now is washed up and burnt out. That is cruel.

I think music is a great hobby and pass time. Full time career? I am not so sure. Maybe take a gap year and work on a cruise ship as entertainment staff or take a summer off university and do a European tour as part of a backing band but life long?

You know you can "buy" an Irish number one? Drive around all the towns and buy up 5000 singles and do it like Louis Walsh did with Boyzone. Now that was make or break territory.

RabbleRouser2k

skooterblue2 wrote: »

That is the most moral thing I have read today. Training lads in case "the dream" doesnt work out. I know a lad about 40 used to play for Tramere as a kid now is washed up and burnt out. That is cruel.

I think music is a great hobby and pass time. Full time career? I am not so sure. Maybe take a gap year and work on a cruise ship as entertainment staff or take a summer off university and do a European tour as part of a backing band but life long?

You know you can "buy" an Irish number one? Drive around all the towns and buy up 5000 singles and do it like Louis Walsh did with Boyzone. Now that was make or break territory.

That's sad. He shouldnt' consider himself burnt out at 40, but then again, sports will do that to a person. You push your body to its limits, dieting, exercising, watching everything you put into your body be it an antihistamine for allergies, or an analgesic for pain. Then you have to write all that down in case you fail a drugs test.

Well, Music is like anything. You can be good at it, or bad at it. Damien Dempsey is qualified in music... but I find his music bloody terrible.
The thing is, the big money is in songwriting. Mike Batt made a fortune from Katie Melua-he wrote the music, she sang em. Same as how he made the big money from 'Bright Eyes' when he got Art Garfunkel to sing it.

You can't just be a singer. That's what the likes of Xfactor did to people-made them think all they needed was a pretty face to sell singles. Didn't realise the big money was the behind the scenes. Write one hit song, live off the profits.

Or write jingles for adverts,never have to work ever again if you get the clever one.

Pawwed Rig

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

You can't just be a singer. That's what the likes of Xfactor did to people-made them think all they needed was a pretty face to sell singles. Didn't realise the big money was the behind the scenes. Write one hit song, live off the profits.

This exactly. If there is one thing X factor has taught us it is that there are lots of people who are good singers. It is what else you bring to the table that gives you the leverage in negotiations on contracts. The singer song writers are the ones with the longevity and are the ones that will make the big money.

Hangdogroad

Dunno if she's already been mentioned, Shauna Lowry. Used to present Bon Voyage among other things. Went to the BBC I think.