Dexys, their hits and flops and how I survived them by Helen O’Hara

Helen’s violin at the start of Come On Eileen has filled a million wedding dancefloors. She was a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, later their musical director, at the boom time of Too Rye Ay (and its wobbly sequel) and captures the thrill of it all in her just-updated memoir, What’s She Like: A Violinist’s Tale. You’ll love this conversation - warm, candid, forgiving and touching on all the following …

… the day the dungarees arrived

… the tribal nature of bands

… the social skills required in a group as tangled as Dexys who’d “go to the caff and just … not talk!"

… what she learnt from the memorabilia found in her shed

… the myth that she met Kevin Rowland at a bus-stop and her reinvention as “the belle from Ballymena”

… working with Nicky Hopkins (“my hero”), Tom Dowd, Woody Woodmansey and Tanita Tikaram

… Dexys studio method: “focus, discipline, tightness” and trying to record a 12-minute track in one take

… hearing hits by Rod Stewart and Slade that featured violins

… and her swansong: recording Because Of You for the TV sitcom Brush Strokes.

Order copies of ‘What’s She Like’ here: https://www.route-online.com/all-books/whats-she-like

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