Sunday August 6th 2006


From the same hymn sheet by Andrea Smith

WITH their chatty, warm personalities and practically indistinguishable appearances, brothers Liam and Tom Lawton are hard to tell apart, but they have chosen paths in life that really couldn't be any more diverse.
While Tom is married with four children, and worksas a teacher in Edenderry, his twin has become a very unusual phenomenon - he's a priest with a worldwide recording deal, platinum-selling albums, and a touring schedule that takes him all over the world.

Growing up in Offaly with their three siblings and parents Tommy and May, the brothers were used to being mixed up on a regular basis.

"People couldn't tell us apart, which is something you just learn to live with," recalls Tom. "We were always very musical, and started playing piano when were six. We both hated the lessons, and I'd say we drove the poor nun teaching us demented."

After school, the brothers went to study arts at Maynooth, and it was here that their paths diverged, when Liam made the decision to join the priesthood, which came as a great surprise to Tom.
"It was a shock to me when Liam went in behind the wall to become a priest," admits Tom. "He hadn't said anything about it up to then, and I was a bit unsure at first, but I found it easier to accept once I got to know the guys he was with in the seminary."

It was at college that the brothers' musical talents were brought to the fore, with Tom starting up a band with several other students, while Liam won the college's annual songwriting contest three years in a row, and also the Ballina Song Contest. After college, the music took aback seat while he spent seven years working in a parish in Carlow, and then he took up performing and songwriting again.

With the word beginning to spread of the beauty of Liam's music, other artistes began to record his music, and this set in motion a series of events that would ultimately see him signing a recording deal with EMI in 2004, with whom he has released two double platinum albums.
When Tom married Brenda in 1990, Liam officiated at the ceremony, which he admits was a bittersweet moment for him.

"I remember thinking that day that things would be different from then on," he says, "It was a very definite marker in our lives, and the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship. I know that Tom was surprised at my decision to become a priest, but he was very supportive, and has always made time for me and looked out for me. I'm very fortunate because Brenda is really lovely, and she and Tom always make me feel very welcome in their home. We're still very close - we only ever argue over music - and he's a very calm and caring guy. We always have great crack when we get together."

Tom teaches geography and music in a school in Edenderry, and also plays in the band Midnight Blue with another brother, Gay. He and Brenda now have four children: Niamh, 14, Cian, 12, Oran, 11 and Muireann, 8. While acknowledging that each twin's life has taken a very different path, Tom is clearly delighted at the success his brother is enjoying.

"Of course there are times when I'd love to be doing what he's doing," he says, "but it's not possible at the moment because I'm married with a young family, and I suppose that's where my own vocation comes in, really. I'm sure Liam finds it's great to be single at times, but I know that there are times when he has to go home to an empty house, and that gets to him too, which I suppose is where his vocation really kicks in."
Liam is just about to perform two major open-air concerts in Dublin docklands, which will be filmed for American television and a CD/DVD. The concert will be set on a huge stage that will be floated on the water, and Liam will be backed by the full Irish Film Orchestraand Chorus.

While he agrees that his life is a happy one and he loves being a priest, he readily admits that there are some aspects of his vocation that he would like to change. "There are certain things you have to sacrifice," he says softly. "There are times, of course, when I compare my life to Tom's, and I can see how things might have been so different for me. I remember holding his first child Niamh in my arms when she was born, and there were all kinds of thoughts running through my mind. She was so like Tom and, therefore, in one sense, so like myself. I travel non-stop and, of all of the journeys I make around the world, sometimes the one to their house is the hardest one of all to make, because it makes me realise that Tom has what I don't have, and what I'd love."

The brothers remain very close, in spite of the different lives they lead, and they talk on the phone every day - sometimes twice a day.

"We're best friends, and if there was anything bothering Liam, he'd ring me, and vice versa," says Tom. "Liam is very open and good-humoured, and he can't say no to anybody, which can be a very good quality at times, and infuriating at other times."

The fact that Liam is a priest, and in the public eye, means that people get the brothers mixed up all of the time, often with comic consequences.

"I'm forever having to tell people that l'm not Liam, although it's easier just to say nothing at times," says Tom. "Sometimes I see people giving me funny looks when l'm out with Brenda, which can be very amusing at times.

"One of the kids in school came up to me a while ago after seeing Liam on the television and said, "Sir, I saw your father on the Late Late the other night," he laughs. "Liam was disgusted when I told him, and I thought it was hilarious!"

'Song of the Celtic Soul', Liam Lawton's open-air concert spectacular, with special guests Roisin O'Reilly and boy soprano Joseph McManners, will take place on Saturday, August 19 and Sunday August 20 at George's Dock, IFSC, in Dublin docklands. www.ticketmaster.ie
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