Growing up in Ennis, Co Clare, I was always curious and ambitious for music. My parents encouraged us, it was music all the time. We’re a close-knit family. A lot of our entertainment was house parties and meeting people. A Hanrahan goodbye takes about a week. You start saying goodbye at 11 o’clock, you might get out at 2 or 3am. Ennis was great, the town was full of young kids, there was a lot of music and opportunities for playing in rock bands and youth clubs. I started writing at a very early age. My first recollection was writing a song for school when I was about 11. We published my first and only book of poetry when I was 14, we stapled it together. We made 12 copies and drew the cover. I went to the local bookshop and said: “What can I do with it?” They sent it to a professor of English in Limerick and he sent a kind note back saying: “Keep going.” I was about 19 when I joined Stockton’s Wing. I was very blessed. My greatest memory from those times is A Beautiful Affair. When that hit in 1981, suddenly the crowds were bigger and you were getting noticed. Having your song played on radio morning, noon and night was a joy. Larry Gogan played it, Ian Dempsey. 2FM had started. We were on the crest of a wave. We supported Michael Jackson in Cork. Oliver Barry, our manager, convinced Michael Jackson’s management that having a band such as Stockton’s Wing in Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh would add colour and excitement. He was right. The audience was immense. As soon as we arrived out, it was like one of their own was coming out and playing at the Jackson gig. It was a buzz. It’s tough to get radio play these days. A lot of artists are beginning to wonder, is it worth our while recording a song at all? There were seven of us involved in Over the Moors [the former signature tune for Liveline on RTÉ Radio One]. It paid seven people a few bob for 38-odd years. They were very kind to call me to warn they were changing the song. There’s no sour grapes with me about hanging up my boots if a young Irish artist would have got the call, but what stuck in my craw is they abandoned the Irish writers. The entire schedule of signature tunes went to an English company. That’s unconscionable. It’s wrong.They have this big banner of “RTÉ: Supporting the arts”. It makes a joke of that. I was furious when I heard the piece. There’s no soul or depth.I’m extremely proud of Stockton’s Wing. I know we connected with people. At the height of our fame in Ireland, there were thousands coming to see us at the gigs. It was about having fun and pushing the boundaries. Now we pick and choose our gigs. We get together and we enjoy the experience.‘If a road looks good for wandering down, I’ll wander down it’— Mike HanrahanWe’re playing at Orlagh House soon with Scullion, that’ll be mighty, a festival for the people. And I love gigging with Eleanor Shanley, a really close friend of mine. We’re like brother and sister. She’s an incredible singer and she’s an artist, her first exhibition is coming in August. My advice to anyone is: never box yourself in. I’m always learning. If a road looks good for wandering down, I’ll wander down it. I spent 10 years as a chef after I left the music business: I take things on and give them my best. I gave up my career for a year to do a fellowship in Trinity College, to learn about dementia and brain health. My mum lived with age-related dementia and it had a profound effect on me. I went into Trinity to educate myself. It was nice to be there and daunting. I didn’t have college education so I was accepted in on RPL – recognised prior learning. I’ve made amazing friends with people who have dedicated their lives to correct the stigma of dementia and promote the use of creative arts as a tool to help. It’s all about protecting people’s human rights. Dementia isn’t a life sentence, it’s a condition, and there are ways we need to treat it. [ Michael Jackson was breathtaking at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But what was the 10-year-old doing at his hotel?Opens in new window ]I’m 67, I’ll be 68 this year. I think it’s cruel that businesses are forcing people to retire when they don’t want to retire. I went to Oxford University last year to do a couple of workshops on virtual reality in dementia care. And I’m working now with students from IADT Dún Laoghaire. We’re creating a virtual reality brain for educational purposes, so that’s a four- or five-year project. I don’t want to stop. I’ve so many things to do. In conversation with Nadine O’ReganMike Hanrahan and Eleanor Shanley’s new EP The Ghost of You is out now. Mike Hanrahan plays with Stockton’s Wing as part of the two-day Hibernacle festival in Rathfarnham in Dublin on Sunday, July 19th, see hibernacle.ie. Hanrahan and Shanley will perform at the Clonmel Buskers Festival in Tipperary on August 7th.