Country singer Barry Kirwan has revealed he’s now working in Lidl, after the coronavirus pandemic halted his music career.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, Barry opened up about having no income after the coronavirus outbreak cancelled over 50 gigs he had scheduled for 2020.
Barry confessed: “The first few months of lockdown I literally had no money coming in, I put a PayPal link up on my Facebook fan page and people literally helped me pay my bills.”
The 34-year-old ended up securing a temporary job in Dunnes Stores for a while, but he eventually had to find full-time employment in his native Omagh – as he wanted to provide for his fiancée Michelle and their two-year-old son.
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“I had to draw up a CV, which I’ve never done in my life, I had to do an interview, which was strange,” Barry said.
“I applied to Argos, driving jobs, every job at the local meat factory in Omagh. They had over 900 applications for the job in Lidl so I was very, very lucky to get it.”
When asked if he’s gotten over the “pride” of working in his local supermarket, Barry said: “Oh yeah I definitely got over that, I have a very good fan base and people in stores realise you do what you have to do.”
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“I actually quite enjoy working in Lidl now. I come from the town of Omagh so I know a lot of the people that come in and it’s great to be socialising with people.”
Although he’s enjoying his new supermarket job, Barry said “music will come back”, and shared his plans to release a new album before Christmas.
On the latest episode of #GossChats, Goss.ie CEO Ali Ryan chats with top makeup artist and influencer Keilidh Cashell about her brand new makeup range, adjusting to life in the spotlight and how she’s kept calm during the pandemic.
#GossChats is sponsored by top Irish aesthetic clinic Haus of JeJuve.
