Growing up on a dairy and beef farm in Co Sligo, singer Tommy Fleming found the ideal place to hone his skills at a young age.

“The acoustics in the parlour were amazing, and the milking machine would hum in the key of E minor. One of my jobs was to milk the cows. It would take me hours to do my job, because I’d be singing up and down like a lunatic,” he says. “That’s where I learned how to sing.”

Regarded as one of Ireland’s best singers, Tommy has released 13 albums and toured extensively in Ireland and across the world, in Australia and the US, with over 20 years in the music industry.

Now the singer is taking on a new challenge: playing the lead in Paddy, which is coming to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from 20 to 22 September after a successful run nationwide last year.

Written by Tommy Marren of Midwest Radio, the play follows young Irish emigrant Patrick Murphy as he leaves Mayo in the 1960s for London and documents his life over a 25-year period.

Initially turning down the part, Tommy decided to take on the role after an encounter with an Irish emigrant when touring Australia.

“I was performing in Sydney, and an older woman and her daughter came up to me and asked: ‘How’s everyone in the motherland?’ with a real midlands accent,” he says.

“She had left Athlone 54 years ago but never came home. I asked if she would go back, and she said everyone she knew in Ireland was dead. I walked away and my heart was broken for her. I couldn’t think of anything more painful than not being able to come home.

“That’s when I told Tom I would do it. The show is a huge salute to those who emigrated and never came back.”

Tommy says the character is inspired by the men in his own life, including his late father, also named Paddy. “The person at the beginning of the show is my father. I wish he was still alive to see this. He would have loved it,” he says.

“As the show progresses, the character becomes my two uncles from my mother’s side, who kind of got a bit cocky and didn’t care about whose toes they stepped on.”

Not one to seek fame, Tommy lives 17 miles away from his childhood home in Co Sligo, with his wife Tina – who he met at the funeral of a mutual friend – and two children.

“I don’t believe in the word celebrity. The only celebrity I think existed was Madonna,” he says.

“I was based in Dublin for many years, but now I’m married with two kids and live in Enniscrone. It’s right on the beach and I love it in the winter, when it’s lovely and quiet. My family is still all around me, so it’s great.”

Tina acts as Tommy’s manager, which works well for the couple. “We have that down to a tee: she wears one leg of the trousers and I have the other,” he jokes.

“We used to have the office inside the house, which was a very bad move, because you wouldn’t leave it until 10pm. We then converted the garage to an office and a storeroom and we leave religiously at half five. Whatever is left in the office stays in the office. There could be a blazing row about something she wants me to do and I don’t want to do, but when we go into the house we’re husband and wife and that’s it. You have to separate the two.”

Tommy isn’t sure if starting a career in music is more difficult or accessible nowadays. “You’ve got reality TV and social media and all of these outlets, but there is way too much emphasis on image. I’m not a social media fan at all. I think it gives cowards the opportunity to say the most awful things and not get pulled for it. You need to have a thick neck to say: ‘F them – I don’t care. I don’t know that person, so it doesn’t bother me.’

“I had great Irish singers to look up to, though, and there are lots of great acts coming up behind me,” he says.

However, it seems the secret to Tommy’s enduring success is his honesty and integrity. “I’m very proud that people still want to hear and see what we do. I think people just get it. I’m not one of these people who go in to do something commercial – if I like it I’ll do it,” he concludes. CL