RTE Late Late Show viewers were left "crying their eyes out" after singer Tony Christie opened up about his battle with early stage dementia.
The 80-year-old English singer, who has Irish roots with his grandfather originally from Mayo, is well-known for his hit song 'Is This The Way To Amarillo.' Tony performed the song live tonight to the delight of the audience, before sitting down for a chat with Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty.
Kielty described the song as hitting a "sweet spot" for many Irish fans. He then asked Tony about his thoughts on being back on the road performing.
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Tony described his fans as "absolutely brilliant" and that he is delighted to be still performing at the grand age of 80. He also told Patrick Kielty how his manager acquired the hit song 'Is This The Way to Amarillo' by meeting song-writer Neil Sedaka.
But Tony truly struck a chord with many fans watching at home when he opened up about his dementia diagnosis. He explained: "Well, the thing was it was two years ago and my current wife noticed, I’ve been a crossword fanatic my whole life, and suddenly I am starting to have problems.
“I thought there was something not quite right so I said to my wife ‘What's happening I keep forgetting things, I was good at this game’. “She said let's go see a doctor, which we did. So they did an X-ray and all that kind of thing and then she suddenly said you’ve got the beginnings of dementia. They put me on these very strong tablets, it’s not cured it but kept it down.”
Kilety then asked him: "But you are still able to perform and still able to do your stuff and you said that music is medicine for you?"
He continued: “The doctor said you are very lucky because you are in the music business and music is one of the things that anyone with dementia knows, if they play music it holds it back”.
Tony continued on to say he was put on "strong medication" to keep his dementia at bay, but that the medication won't cure it. But Tony is still determined to keep on performing.
"I came out with my dementia news live on Channel 4. I'm not ashamed of it," added Tony.
Many RTE viewers took to social media to praise Tony Christie for openly discussing his dementia, although not everyone was impressed with his opening number. One person commented: "Crying my eyes out here, Tony Christie is so brave talking about dementia. He's an absolute legend."
A second wrote: "Fair dues to Tony Christie. 80 and recently diagnosed with dementia. Still good!"
A third added: "Bless Tony Christie a great man and singer. He's helping so many people talking about dementia."
A fourth said: "A very honest and brave interview, well done to Tony Christie." However, others weren't so impressed.
One person commented: “Don't want to be too mean as he is 80 years old but poor Tony Christie can't sing in tune anymore.”
Another added: "Someone give Tony a cough drop there. Poor lad is struggling.”
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