Jenny Greene set for kerry gigs

ONE minute was all it took for fans to snap up tickets to 2FM DJ Jenny Greene’s hotly-anticipated Killarney gig with the RTE Concert Orchestra on December 15.

Within hours a second date was announced – and yet again tickets sold like wildfire.

The popularity of Jenny Greene’s amazing set – which combines 90s club classics with a 48-piece orchestra – may have surprised some music fans across Ireland, but none more so than the Dublin DJ herself.

Speaking to Connect ahead of her two sell-out gigs at the INEC on December 15 and 16, Jenny admitted that she honestly believed she’d be lucky to ‘get away with’ the original gig at Electric Picnic last year – a concept that she could never have predicted would become one of the most sought after music gigs for fans right across the country.

“About five or six weeks before last year’s Electric Picnic Dan Healy, the head of 2FM, came to me with the idea and said ‘are you in or out,’” Jenny told Connect.

“I initially thought it was a mad idea but we literally hit the ground running. It was a bit of a rush to put everything together, so I really just hoped we’d get away with it.”

And get away with it they certainly did – going on to play the 3Arena, the Marquee in Cork, Galway Arts Festival to name but a few, culminating in two special gigs in Killarney next month.

And speaking of coming to Kerry, Jenny turned the attention to the female vocalist who accompanies her at her sell out orchestra shows – Killarney’s very own Gemma Sugrue.

Anticipating a very special reaction from the Killarney crowd when they hit the INEC stage in December, Jenny was full of praise for local lady Gemma.
“When all this was initially being talked about, Mary Sexton – who is the RTE concert Orchestra coordinator – was talking about Gemma and how she would be perfect for what we were doing. It was really funny because she was talking about how she had seen her perform in a Spice Girls’ tribute band as Baby Spice and I remember thinking that that didn’t fill me with confidence,” Jenny joked.

“But as soon as I heard her I thought she was amazing, and as well as being so talented she also gets on so, so well with everyone and there are no egos, which is great.”

Jenny, who played a solo DJ set at the INEC several years ago, says she and Gemma are really excited about returning to the Kerry venue.

“The INEC is amazing and really lends itself to something like this so we are really excited to come
back,” she said.

“Of course Gemma is really excited about it and it seems the people of Kerry are too, which is brilliant.”

2FM listeners will probably best know Jenny Greene as co-presenter of the morning show with Nickey Bynre of Westlife fame. She also presents her own hugely popular Electric Disco show on the station on Saturday nights.

When asked about her career path, Jenny admitted that being a DJ was her dream from when she was a young child.

“I remember being about 12 years old and my next door neighbour was a DJ and I thought, I’d love to do that,” Jenny told Connect.

“I asked my parents for decks for Christmas and they got them for me – two belt drive twin tables. I would buy records in town each week until I eventually compiled a full collection, which I still have.”

Knowing exactly what she wanted to do in the future, an ambitious 15-year-old Jenny contacted Pulse FM which was running a talent contest, which she won – the prize giving her the opportunity to come to work at the station in the background.

This allowed her to make some valuable contacts in the music and DJing world, leading to her securing an early set at Palace Nightclub – while still only 15 years of age.

“The passion was always there, but at the time I never really believed I could make a career out of it if I’m honest. But there weren’t that many female DJs around at the time so I suppose that gave me an edge. It was a novelty for a lot of people I suppose.”

Jenny stayed with Pulse FM for two years until the station closed, and then at the age of 17, got a job with FM104 presenting a weekend breakfast show.

“I was working part time in a clothes shop and I got a call from the station offering me a weekend breakfast show. Again the female thing played in my favour, as they wanted a girl to present the show.”

Jenny was in fifth year in school when she started presenting the new show and soon realised that this was definitely the career for her.

“I spoke to my parents about it and we all agreed that I should leave school and pursue this,” Jenny said, “I was never really very academic so that’s what I did.”

Now Jenny is a formidable force as part of the Nicky Byrne show on 2FM – a partnership that she admits she was very unsure of at the beginning.

“I always consider myself a music DJ and love playing my own style of music, so being a daytime presenter was never something that I really aspired to,” Jenny said. “I didn’t know Nicky either, so I didn’t know what to expect and looking back now I could never have imagined that I would love it so much. We get on brilliantly and every day is a laugh.”

Jenny still presents her Saturday night Electric Disco on 2FM – despite being given the option of no longer working at the weekends.

“I was told I wouldn’t have to do any more Saturday nights if I was working every day with Nicky, but as I say, I always loved dance music and this is what I love to do so I was happy to keep on doing it.”

Despite all the success that Jenny has enjoyed in her career, presenting a prime time radio slot on 2FM and filling out arenas with the RTE Concert Orchestra, her proudest moment came last June when she married the love of her life Kelly Keogh.

Their wedding took place at Wineport Lodge in Westmeath, with Jenny’s 2fm co-host Nicky Byrne among family and friends in attendance.

Jenny proposed to Kelly while they were on holidays in Portugal the previous September, telling her Twitter followers at the time: ‘She said yes! Over the moon!!”

Describing her new wife as her biggest fan, Jenny told Connect that the couple are excited to come to Killarney next month for what promises to be a super show.

“It’s been an incredible two years and the wedding was definitely the highlight,” Jenny said. “Kelly comes with me to all the gigs so she will definitely be in Killarney. It would probably be a bad omen at this stage if she wasn’t there.”

You can tune in to Jenny and Nicky weekdays on 2FM from 10am as well as Jenny’s Electric Disco on Saturday nights at 8pm.