Latest news with #Downey
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Rianne Downey's journey from Bellshill to Glastonbury
'I want to do them justice, and be respectful of the crowd coming to watch, because these songs mean a lot to them.' They mean a lot of Rianne Downey now, too. It was a video posted to social media during the first year of the Covid lockdown which ultimately sprung the 'wee lassie from Bellshill' (words: artist's own) from her bedroom to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, performing to a worldwide audience of millions. Downey's is not the first story of a Bellshill girl who blew up in the music industry. Like Sheena Easton, she has also teamed up with a bona-fide pop legend. But where Easton traded girl-next-door Big Time wholesomeness to join Prince's Over 18s party, Downey has forged an alliance with a man who has written some of the biggest British hits of the last 40 years, and whose stage outfit is a cagoule. Paul Heaton has long had a female vocalist at his side as one of the most prolific and highly respected songwriters of his generation, with the likes of The Beautiful South and The Housemartins. When long term collaborator Jacquie Abbott withdrew from their future plans, opportunity knocked for a girl in Lanarkshire. 'I'd uploaded a cover of Rotterdam in October 2020 and Paul had commented on it. I remember at the time being absolutely buzzing, running downstairs to tell my mum and dad,' said Downey, of the moment that changed her life, and that of her joiner dad and cafe worker mum. 'Three years later I got a phone call when I was walking back from the pub one afternoon, asking me if I was available to come and join him.' Downey raced home to record some voice notes of the Beautiful South standards Perfect 10, Don't Marry Her and You Keep It All In. (Image: GT) 'They got back later that same day to say, 'Right let's have you on, and see how it goes from there'. But even before the first gig he asked me to stay on for the summer, then before the end of the summer he asked me to sing on his new album and whether I'd like to join him on the Pyramid Stage.' And so it was that Rianne Downey ascended the throne alongside the King of witty northern pop, following Brianna Corrigan, Alison Wheeler and Abbott, the latter having formed a chart-topping duo with her former Beautiful South bandmate until she withdrew (Heaton has since said Abbott took time out to care for her child who has autism). In a whirlwind few weeks in the summer of 2023, Downey's career experienced G-force. 'I'd been doing my solo stuff before then. I was dead chuffed with how it was going,' she said. 'I'd supported Gerry Cinnamon at the Barras, Paolo Nutini at the Cavern in Liverpool. The last gig I played before joining Paul was a solo headliner at King Tut's. It was a bit of a jump going from 300 at Tuts to 30,000 at Neighbourhood festival. 'I'll never forget the feeling before I stepped on stage at the first gig with Paul. I knew nothing was going to be the same again. My life has transformed since that gig. I'm in my happy place when I perform, and when I stepped out there with Paul it just felt like home.' How does it feel to follow in the footsteps of the other women? 'Paul's very pernickety, he liked to get things right, and does things at such a high standard that I know he wouldn't just pick anybody. So it's nice to know how much he would have believed in me to bring me on.' Downey freely admits she's had to study Heaton's back catalogue, and her co-singer's ways, which she calls 'Heatonisms - the way he pronounces things, the rhythm he sings in.' She said: 'It didn't feel like it took too much work in the rehearsal room, it all clicked. Paul was telling me to keep my eyes on him when singing, and that helps, you notice each other's mouths, each other's breathing. Each gig we have played, the chemistry has got better. You can rehearse and rehearse but the chemistry grows when you're doing gigs.' She's on tour around the UK with Heaton this summer and will headline Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival later in the summer, before launching her debut LP, The Consequence of Love, in October. The album showcases her country leanings, and a knack of getting to the heart of a song's emotional punch, much like Heaton has for 40 years. The title track is a reaction to the living grief of her grandmother's dementia. 'I went into the studio with a bottle of prosecco, a packet of fags and a fish supper,' she said. 'I don't even smoke. Then you step back and realise you've put your trauma into your guitar, onto a bit of paper and you feel better. 'I've always done my solo stuff, but my priority is Paul and that comes first.' she said. 'I'm so lucky that's what I get to call my job now. Everything else is a bonus. It's not even like I can say it's a dream come true. It's so far beyond my dreams.'
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Health
- NZ Herald
The rise of DIY funerals, water cremations and death doulas in NZ
A death or end-of-life doula is a relatively new experience to New Zealand, with the doula movement first emerging in the early 2000s in the United States. Death doulas care for terminally ill or dying people in the final stages of their life and help to organise their funeral after their death. 'Doulas are a new thing in New Zealand, there's not that many of us around the country yet but we are growing ... we've seen the success of this role overseas and we know we can make a difference for families,' Gallogly said. The choices are growing for how people might want to honour their death, but it's also linked to financial pressure. Funeral celebrant Kelly Townsend, who also does volunteer work for Death without Debt – an advocacy group working to make funerals more affordable – said families could now conduct their own services. Kelly Townsend says 47% of New Zealanders are unable to access $5000 for a funeral. Photo / Corey Fleming. In some cases, families would be going through too much grief to perform a DIY funeral but for those who did, it was often a restorative experience. 'It's the old-fashioned Irish wake, it's the tangi, you know, it's the way our ancestors did it and it's really quite healing to be hands-on – washing the body, building a casket, decorating or transporting a casket – in that whole process the kinaesthetic is healing,' Townsend said. Townsend said 47% of New Zealanders were unable to access $5000 in savings but the average cost of a funeral was $13,000. 'Automatically 50% of people in this country are going into debt to pay for an average funeral,' Townsend said. 'If people can't pay that funeral debt they will be paying interest on it.' Propel NZ Auckland group general manager Wade Downey, who has been a funeral director for almost 40 years, said he thought DIY funerals were getting more attention, but that the trend wasn't growing massively. 'There's some conversation that funeral companies or the industry blocks people's ability to do it themselves – we don't,' Downey said. Downey says people don't want to spend money on funerals because of the grief and sadness associated with them. Photo / Carson Bluck. Downey said the emotional burden was often too much for people trying to carry out aspects of the service themselves, and families had come to them midway through the process for help. Gateway Funeral Services managing director Bradley Shaw, who is based in Whakatāne, has been a funeral director for 14 years. He said he had noticed more and more families were struggling with funeral debt. 'I think over the years they [funerals] have gotten more expensive as our operating costs have gone up along with everything else. 'In Whakatāne, which is a lower-socioeconomic area, we probably would have 90% of our families applying for the Winz [Work and Income NZ] funeral grant. 'That's extremely high compared to other places around the country.' New Zealand Cemeteries and Crematoria Collective chairman Daniel Chrisp said more people were exploring DIY funerals and natural burials, but it was still nothing like the numbers for traditional funerals and burials. 'I think it's one of those things where there's always going to be a popular option, but families just appreciate having choices, what they don't like is just having to pick between two options,' Chrisp said. Shaw said the majority of people seemed to be sticking with the traditional direction of hiring a funeral director. Downey said the perception of funerals as being 'so expensive' or costing too much was his biggest concern about the current industry, however, he felt it was a difficult mindset to shift. 'One of the challenges is it's a cost we don't want to spend money on, we don't want to spend money on grief ... we want to buy a trip or spend money on weddings.' Shaw had made the decision to sell all coffins at his funeral home for the same price to avoid the difficult choice for families of having to choose a cheaper casket. 'We've been doing that since last year and we've had wonderful success with it ... they still get multiple options.' Gallogly had worked with families who built their own coffins using harvested wood or natural timber and decorated them with messages from friends. She said there were alternatives to cremations and normal burials, such as being buried in a shroud or a natural burial – that involved a person being buried in a shallower grave in nutrient-rich soil. A person could choose not to have a headstone and instead the family could plant a native tree or be given the GPS co-ordinates of the grave. Waikumete Cemetery was currently the only site in Auckland that offered a natural burial area. Townsend said planning was crucial to save costs for a funeral but often families did not want to think about a death before it happened. She hoped this would change. 'The trouble is if you don't plan and someone dies, you're grieving and you're not in a good place to make decisions and are more likely just to take the first option,' Townsend said. For instance, the average price of embalming was between $500-$1000 but there were other ways to carry out the process to avoid this cost, Townsend said. Car crash victims or people who had died from trauma wounds would need to be embalmed, but in other cases there were natural ways of keeping the body cool or intact. 'You don't always need to be embalmed ... people don't realise it, so it's just about education and preparing in advance.' There was also now the option for water cremation in New Zealand which offered an environmentally friendly alternative for cremation. A water cremation - also called bio-cremation or alkaline hydrolysis - involves a body being dissolved in an alkaline solution inside a stainless-steel machine. It usually takes from three to four hours and unlike the traditional cremation process, it creates zero emissions. After the dissolving, the bones could be given back to the family as ashes. Chrisp said he had noticed conversations were happening about alternatives to traditional cremations at funeral homes and cemeteries. 'I think at the moment most New Zealand families seem to be happy with burials and cremations as the predominant options, and typical flame cremation is still the most popular,' Chrisp said. 'In America, they've even got human composting now. 'So, I think there are conversations and there is a bit of publicity about newer options for what to do with your body when you don't need it anymore, but in terms of families committing that's possibly further down the line.' Gallogly said she would like to see the funeral industry change to have 'a greater willingness to unbundle services' for families. 'I think it's important when people are working with a family that they understand the financial position they might be in and are willing to share with that family other ways of doing things rather than going to the default tick-box situation,' she said. Downey said he did not think funeral homes were maximising profits and that all the businesses he knew were in the industry for the right reasons – to care for families. However, it was also a reality for funeral directors that they could not offer their services to families if their businesses went under. 'We're in business, we need to make money ... a funeral home has to be profitable to stay in operation,' Downey said. He said funeral directors could assist people with cost-saving measures, such as bringing their own flowers or reducing the catering size of a funeral. Gallogly said she had observed that New Zealand was a country where denial of death was common, and it was often a subject that was avoided in conversations. 'I'd like to see a society where death is much more accepted and talked about more openly to take away the fear around it,' Gallogly said. New figures released by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand earlier this week showed significant jumps in burial and cremation fees in cities around New Zealand. Shaw was concerned about the hike in council cremation fees, as he had observed a higher number of cremations happening for Māori families. 'We noticed an increase in cremation for Māori families after Covid, it went up about 150% in the first year,' Shaw said. 'That was due to funeral restrictions but now it's still around that and it's probably increasing every year.' The most expensive cremation fee was $1300 in Invercargill, compared to the cheapest council cremation service of $630 in Rotorua. Auckland's Manukau Memorial Gardens and Waikumete Cemetery charged the highest fees for ash burials, each costing $3080. Mākara Cemetery in Wellington was the cheapest cemetery for an ash burial, with a price of $365. Funeral Directors Association chief executive Gillian Boyes said rising cemetery and cremation fees were placing an unsustainable financial burden on low-income families. 'The sad reality is that at a time when a very low-income family is hurting and grieving and just wants to remember their loved one, they are going to be faced with the added pain of a big bill with fixed basic costs that just keep going up,' Boyes said. In 2025, the highest council costs for a burial were in New Plymouth at $7207. Marlborough's burial fees had risen to $6611 in 2025, which was a 19% increase on last year's amount. Shaw said the Winz funeral grant, which offers up to $2616, needs to be raised to reflect the council cost increases. The hike in burial and cremation fees was putting additional pressure on funeral directors as they had to adjust their own costs and pricing for families. Townsend said there were many families living with death poverty in New Zealand, who were currently paying back debt from a funeral. Gallogly had seen, first-hand, families struggling to afford to pay for a funeral. 'There is a lot of poverty in our communities, I think people really struggle to survive these days never mind pay for someone's funeral, especially if it's not expected,' she said. She had also witnessed ceremonies where communities had banded together to help with flowers, bringing meals or running the ceremony to cut down on costs. 'I think it's about building a village around the family,' she said. Eva de Jong is a New Zealand Herald reporter covering general news for the daily newspaper, Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday. She was previously a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle, covering health stories and general news. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Irish Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
'It would be lovely' Robert Downey bidding to go where 13 Cork men have failed
Thirteen Cork men have sought to follow Seán Óg Ó hAilpín in the last 20 years and none have succeeded. Back then, Cork maintained the once widespread, though now largely diminished, practice of allowing the county champions to nominate the captain of the county team so, with Na Piarsaigh winning the Seán Óg Murphy Cup in 2004, Ó hAilpín was the obvious choice and duly lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup as they completed the back-to-back the following year. Pat Mulcahy had the honour the following year after Newtownshandrum won the county, but Cork failed in their three-in-row bid and 12 others have held the role since without the ultimate success of captaining Cork to an All-Ireland. Kieran Murphy from Erin's Own followed Mulcahy, after which Cork broke with tradition as the team management was granted the power of picking the captain, with John Gardiner the first to be chosen in that manner for the 2008 and '09 seasons. Since then Kieran Murphy (Sarsfields), Shane O'Neill, Donal Óg Cusack, Patrick Cronin, Anthony Nash, Stephen McDonnell, Séamus Harnedy, Patrick Horgan, Mark Coleman and Seán O'Donoghue have been handed the role, before Pat Ryan turned to Robert Downey last winter. 'I was taken aback a small bit, yeah,' says Downey. 'I was delighted and hugely honoured. To be asked to captain any team is an honour, but to be asked to be captain of the Cork team is a massive honour. Especially with the guys that we have. We're so close and so tight, so it's something I'm quite proud of.' The role of the captain has evolved from the table-thumping, chest-beating stereotype, and Downey was wary over-thinking the role. 'It would be quite organic. I was conscious not to change too much. Stephen McDonnell, a clubmate of mine, would have been captain of Cork before. I would have played with him, I spoke to Stephen alright. 'Everyone I would talk to would say that Maccie was one of the best captains they ever played under. The conversation, there wasn't too much, but he just gave a small bits of advice. And the biggest thing was that if you're performing on the field, then guys will follow you. 'We have plenty of guys to do jobs all over the field but the biggest thing is you can't say too much or do too much different; just do our job and do it as best you can on the pitch.' Downey has endured an injury-interrupted campaign this year and only came back into the starting side for the All-Ireland semi-final win over Dublin. But what an environment to lead the team into, with some 60,000 Cork people in Croke Park. The nature of the final, with tickets distributed all over the country, means that Cork won't command the same level of support in the stadium for Sunday's final against Tipperary. 'It was funny going up on the Friday,' says Downey, 'obviously it was very business-like and guys were serious, but even driving in on the bus on the Saturday, you were getting a bit giddy. 'I remember seeing Hoggy [Patrick Horgan] getting onto the bus. I won't call him old but he's the oldest on the team and he came on and he was giddy, laughing. He knew: these days don't come around too often. 'It was brilliant to see the Cork fans, and the buzz. And then when we got out onto the pitch, it was just red everywhere. It means an awful lot to us, to have fans like that. You just get a great buzz and a great energy from it.' The 25-year-old, somewhat surprisingly, retains memories of Cork's win over Galway in that final 20 years ago. 'I watched it in the backroom with my dad. I was five or six. In the sitting room. I was just going on six. I'm born in September. And I can just remember my dad jumping around, delighted. Very vague memory of it because I was very young. I watched the 2006 final in the Fox and Hound pub, close to our house.' He has more vivid memories of growing up under Glen Rovers clubmate Horgan's wing. Cork's Glen Rovers trio of Patrick Horgan, Robert Downey and his brother Eoin celebrate the Munster Championship win this year. (Image: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo) 'We'd have always played in the ball alley in the Glen. We played squash with our hurleys and sliotars in the Glen. Just one touch. I can remember when I was very young, Hoggie would ask us to come in and play with him. 'The alley in the Glen would be bigger than a squash court, it's designed for that game specifically. We play a lot in the alleys here as well. We were lucky we had such close access to Hoggie. I can remember him an awful lot. 'It gave us the bug to want to get to the levels he was at and to practise as hard as he did. And it's funny now, even in the offseason, I could ring him or he could ring me and there'd be a few of us going to the alley again. We always find ourselves back there.' And what about Downey lifting the cup, with Horgan following him up the steps after completing his 18th season? 'Look, it would be lovely for him obviously, but at the end of the day it's about the group, and it's a group effort. 'It's a massive effort from everybody, not just players. But look, it would be lovely.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘We were very lucky' – Cork GAA star reveals ‘role model' Patrick Horgan's touching gesture when he was starting hurling
WITH racquets replaced by hurleys, games of modified squash in the Glen Rovers ball alley captured the imagination and sharpened the skills of a young Rob Downey. On the grounds of a club that can boast Christy Ring as one of its heroes of the past, Downey spent countless hours honing his craft as a teenager. Advertisement 2 Robert Downey is one of three Glen players in the Cork team Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile 2 And he praised Patrick Horgan for making him feel welcome at the club Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile It has left him with fond memories of being invited to test himself against one of the Glen's senior stars — a man who is now a team-mate for both club and county. And on Sunday at Along with his younger brother Eoin, 22, and legendary forward Patrick Horgan, 37, captain Downey is one of three Glen players in the Cork team that will start against Munster rivals Tipperary. And he said: 'When I was growing up, Hoggie was around with a hurley in his hand 24-7, so he was our role model. Advertisement Read More on GAA 'We'd have always played in the ball alley as well in the Glen. We played squash with our hurleys and sliotars, just one touch. 'I can remember when I was very young, Hoggie would ask us to come in and play with him. 'The alley in the Glen would be bigger than a squash court — it's designed for that game specifically. 'We were lucky we had such close access to Hoggie. I can remember him an awful lot.' Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Being taken under the wing of a man destined for greatness helped Downey develop into a player deemed worthy of being entrusted with the honour of captaining his county. The imposing centre-back, who hopes to skipper 'Easiest interview I've ever had' jokes RTE GAA host after pundits go back and forth before Meath vs Donegal Downey, who bagged a sensational goal in the 2024 final loss to Clare, ended last season as an All-Star. The ball-alley battles with the Rebels' elder statesman have paid dividends. Advertisement He reflected: 'I just remember as young fellas he'd be in there with the senior team. We might have been 13 or 14 in the viewing area, watching him for hours and hours and he'd call us in. At that stage, the sliotar was worn out. 'We'd play with him for the last two or three games. But it gave us the bug to want to get to the levels he was at and to practise as hard as he did. 'And it's funny now, even in the off-season I could ring him or he could ring me and there'd be a few of us going to the alley again. We always find ourselves back there.' Advertisement Horgan, hurling's all-time leading scorer, will hope his status as one of the greatest players never to win an All-Ireland medal expires this weekend. Downey added: 'The nights we're not training with Cork, we're always up in the club watching Glen training. He's always there, still down pucking around. 'But even outside of that, he's always trying to get better at different aspects of his game. He's still as competitive as ever. It's great to have had him as a role model and still have him as a role model.' In terms of their ongoing duels for supremacy on the Glen's de facto squash court , has Horgan always been the man to beat? Advertisement Downey laughed: 'I remember beating him when I was quite young actually. In fairness to him, he's probably the best of us but I think I could give him a good run for it!' As for the prospect of adding a coveted Celtic Cross to Horgan's haul of four All-Star awards, the captain said: 'Look, it would be lovely for him obviously. 'But at the end of the day, it's about the group and it's a group effort. 'It's a massive effort from everybody, not just players. But look, it would be lovely.' Advertisement
RTÉ News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Cork defender Robert Downey rates All-Ireland final as 50-50 clash
Cork defender Robert Downey believes the All-Ireland hurling final clash with Tipperary is a 50-50 type game, despite the Rebels being considered favourites to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. With the dominant side of much of the last decade Limerick out of the competition, the Munster champions showed their credentials by demolishing Dublin to reach the showpiece occasion. It's a first-ever meeting between the counties in an All-Ireland final, adding to many tales of provincial clashes which the Cork captain is familiar with. Downey told RTÉ Sport: "You're probably reared on stories of Cork and Tipp when you're growing up. The older crowd in Cork would always be talking about the great days when playing Tipp in Munster finals and things like that and I'm sure it's the same in Tipperary. It's a real traditional game, two traditional counties going at it. "We've played them twice this year and it's like any game at this stage of the year to be honest. There's going to be nothing in it. It's 50-50, everything will have to be fought for and I suppose on the day it'll just be a bounce of the ball here or there or a decision here and there that'll probably swing it." Cork are in the decider for the second year running and third time in the last five years. It is not a new feeling for Pat Ryan's side, but going one step further for the first time in two decades is the big goal. Downey said: "As a team and as a group we're really looking forward to the game. I think at the start of the year every team's goal and ambition is to get to the All-Ireland final. "We're there now and we're really looking forward to it. I think you would have your own routine that you would stick to. It's important to block out a few extra bits that might go on today too. "Look, we're lucky that we were up there this time last year and we know the running of things and we stay in the same place and things like that. We would stick to our own routines and what works for us. I think it's important. Obviously you're up there for a reason and you don't want to get distracted." 'Two traditional counties going at it' - @OfficialCorkGAA on facing @TipperaryGAA again, this time in an All-Ireland final #rtegaa #sundaygame — RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) July 14, 2025 Downey has played a restricted role this year due to injury. But he has timed it well to start the semi-final victory over Dublin and be in prime conditions for the showdown with Tipp on Sunday. He explained: "Injury can be a small bit frustrating and things like that but I suppose I was lucky that it wasn't one long bad injury. It was just a couple of two or three different small niggly injuries where I was able to get over quite easily but it just took a small by the time. "I think it shows the importance of your squad and the depth in your squad that if one fella does go down with an injury, it's just the attitude is next man up.
