At one time, Liam Gleeson was a bartender in Dublin who sang only when called upon in the wee hours. Now the Tipperary man has both penned and recorded a viral hit.

That song is none other than Fáilte Papa Francis, a hymn released by Liam ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland this month.

Liam only began singing seriously in the last nine years when he joined his local Silvermines Folk Choir. “When I started off with choir I would have been the quiet guy at the back,” explains Liam, “but over the years I have gotten the confidence to step forward.”

And, although there is much religious debate at present around the Pontiff’s visit, and sometimes Fáilte Papa Francis proves as such, the praise for Liam’s voice has been resounding.

“I have had a few negative comments on Facebook and that, but overwhelmingly the feedback has been brilliant. I have gotten a lot of nice comments about the quality of the voice, that the words were inspirational and that people like it I suppose,” laughs the singer.

Inspiration

In 2016, Liam released his debut album Come What May. Recently, when preparing new tracks, Liam was speaking to a friend who suggested that he write a song for the coming of the Pope and everything started from there.

“So I got to thinking about it, I went for a little walk for myself and the words sort of came to me. I said, 'this is not a bad idea at all', so we got it down on paper.”

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