Music in the Kingdom – Ger O Hanlon
By Lisa Curran
For the past few months the town has been a live with lots of new talent and one voice in particular has captured the attention of passers by in our once again buzzing town centre so let’s find out about the man behind the amazing sound and welcome Ger O Hanlon to the kingdom!
Ger, we know each other a while but tell us, What brought you this direction and how are you finding the gig and music scene in kerry so far?
Well my main reason for moving herewas because I was doing singing lessons with Tralee Vocal Academy which was a big step for me after college. I really love passing on the knowledge I learned for years to other people and hopefully help them achieve their goals.
I think the music scene here is so diverse from busking to Karaoke and events. Everyone seems very supportive of eachother too in helping putting eachother out there. Busking for me has really done me wonders and I appreciate that people like what I do.
When did the singing and music in general start? What influenced you?
I always loved music from a young age as I was exposured to so many different genres from my dad playing music in the car. My main influence would be Mariah Carey and he showed me her singing live at the Grammys and I was just in disbelief at her voice. I wanted to learn how she did l these things with her voice. The first album I got was Christina Aguielera’s Debut album so she was definitely the first vocalist I had heard and still to this day I could sing every song off that album.
Where did you study your craft?
I was always self thought when I was younger and just trying to pick up things from listening and YouTube. I then decided to go to Voiceworks studios in Cork around 2015/16 and learned to to use my voice in ways I hadn’t done before. And in 2017 I went to Voiceworks in Kerry (now Tralee Vocal Academy) which helped me prepare for Leaving Cert music and college auditions which was so helpful as I didn’t really know what I wanted to do at that time. I then went to The University of Limerick in 2017 -2019 to study Perfomimg arts and made so many connections there before continuing my studies in 2019-2020 in BIMM Dublin which helped me make lifelong contacts and learned how the industry works. Overall knowing how to become and performer and have the insight into the industry really helped me become the artist I am today.
You are writing your own original songs and have had some very successful releases! Tell us about that process
Well the last 2 years has certainly been wild after securing 2 No.1s , 7 Top 10 songs on the Irish iTunes Charts and Top 20 in the Officla Homegrown charts.I mean I am in disbelief with the support I’ve gotten
Songwriting for me when I started was very different to the way I write now. The stories are real but the way I have learned to convey the messages has radically Changed as songs overtime take new forms and new meanings. Writing lyrics in my favourite thing to do. They may not be perfect but it’s all me and it’s vulnerable. I’ve written with some amazing people over the last 2 years and I’m so excited to see how people react to this new matured and edgier side of my music.
Where can people follow your journey and make contact regarding performing or lessons?
You can reach my email gerohanlonmusic@gmail.com
if you want to contact me for gigs or lessons or Tralee Vocal academy.
If you want to support my music you can follow my Spotify at “Ger” or my social medias (tiktok/insta) @gerohanlo
