Name: Finbar Wright

Age: 48

Occupation: Entertainer

Education: A bachelor of arts in Spain, a bachelor of divinity from National University of Ireland, Maynooth and a HDip from University College Cork.

In the news for: Finbar Wright of the Irish Tenors will perform an intimate concert — A Night with Mr Wright — at the Gaiety Theatre on Sunday, 2 April.

Elaine Larkin (EL): When did you get your break?

Finbar Wright (FW): Like so many people in Ireland if I were to pinpoint it to one particular moment it would have to be The Late Late Show. The one thing Gay Byrne can be really proud of is the number of people he has given an opportunity to in Ireland. So many people were discovered through the The Late Late Show that it really is just incredible. In 1987 I was invited on the show having won all the prizes at the Feis Ceoil in Dublin. That was really the start of it I suppose.

FW: I was a Catholic priest. To be more accurate, I was a teacher. I was ordained in 1980 and I was sent to teach in Cork in Farranferris College, which is what you would call a diocesan college. Essentially it was a secondary school. I was sent to teach Spanish and Latin up to Leaving Cert and that’s what I did for seven years before I started into the music business.

EL: What was your first paying job?

FW: My first paying job was in St Finbarr’s hospital in Cork as a hospital porter. I worked there while I was a student in college. I worked in accident and emergency on night duty.

EL: Who would you say influenced the course of your career?

FW: If I were to pick one person I would have to say Maurice Cassidy. He was my first manager. He’s an entertainment manager and was the business manager for Riverdance since that started.

EL: What was the best career advice you’ve ever received?

FW: The one piece of advice I have gotten and it is true is that you’re only as good as your last performance. If you’re an entertainer you can’t live on your name and you can’t live on all the achievements of the past. It’s a bit like a sportsperson — they say to sportspeople you’re only as good as your last game. When you look at the likes of Pavarotti you can see that. He should have stopped a couple of years ago and he didn’t.

EL: Do you think education plays a big part in getting on the right career track?

FW: Absolutely. One of the great things that stood to me is that I started learning piano at the age of five. Like all children I enjoyed it to a certain extent but never appreciated what it really meant until I started into a musical career. Knowing all the theory of music, how it works and how to read music — I had all this ammunition already.

EL: What was the highlight of your career?

FW: I have had loads of them. For example, I sang and read the gospel at the Pope’s mass in the Phoenix Park but that predated my career. I laugh at that because people often say: ‘What’s the biggest audience you’ve ever performed to?’ In the Phoenix Park in 1979 there were a million and a quarter people, I don’t think I’ll match that audience again. That certainly would have been the highlight of my life.

EL: If you were to change career what would you do?

FW: I’d love to be a radio presenter. I think it’s a very intimate level of communication with people.