‘I was inside Cillian Murphy’s head’: Cork agent, actor and singer on life in London

For someone who describes having had to be “undercover” growing up gay in Millstreet, singer/songwriter and actor, JD Kelleher, admits to liking the limelight.

“Funnily enough, anything that put me out there under the spotlight was very welcome. I don’t know why; maybe it was an escape or something, but it brought me a lot of joy.”

In other ways, JD says Millstreet was pleasant and very nice “but growing up in a small country town had many challenges”.

London-based JD, who also identifies as non-binary (he/him/they), recently released a new single, Turn it Around, on all platforms with an upbeat sound and video.

Prior to this, their most recent club hit, Take The Money And Run, peaked at number 7.

JD, on the phone from London, says he is doing well in the UK dance club charts, which comprise songs that DJs play and people dance to in night clubs, as opposed to the regular charts which are about streaming and units shifted.

With their Catalan band, “we topped the Irish rock charts during the Marriage Equality Referendum in May, 2015, with our version of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

Prior to their rock ‘n roll career, JD had “an obsession with theatre and performance. Anything that involved performance at school, I was always into it. It might be a little sketch.

“Back in the day, I really enjoyed set dancing. I was in the chorus for pantomimes and I did Summer Revels with the Montforts and Eileen Nolan, God rest her.”

At UCC, where he studied arts, JD gravitated towards Dramat, the university dramatic society.

After graduating, JD worked with Island Theatre in Limerick on Philadelphia Here I Come.

JD toured the country with a Druid production of Wild Harvest.

“After that, I lived for a year in Dublin and did lots of auditions, eventually doing one for a play, Same Old Moon, that was going to the West End. I didn’t get the part, but the person who did get it turned it down and I was second on the list.

“Fate would have it that I was to land in the West End. It was so exciting. I’ll never forget the day I arrived on Oxford Street with my bag, up out of the underground, making my way to the rehearsals. It was for The Really Useful Theatre Group. Prince Edward was on the team at that time as he was interested in being a theatre producer. We reopened the Oxford Playhouse with that production before it transferred to the West End.

“It didn’t last very long there. I wouldn’t have called it a hit. It was around the time of Dancing At Lughnasa which was very, very big. A lot of people wanted to get into what I call the Irish Renaissance.”

These days, as well as their recording career, JD runs an actors’ agency in London, established with Cork-born actor Rachel Cullen. It’s called International Actors London and it represents migrant actors.

“It’s for people who come to London like I did as a young person with their dreams in their suitcases and their innocence and hopes.

“I represent about 200 actors from all over the world, sending them out to auditions. I thought there would be a gap in the market for people coming into this country to pursue acting rather than people who are here already.

“So many people want to be actors and performers, in theatre, film and TV. It’s unreal.”

JD’s last theatre job was about ten years ago, as one of the voices in Enda Walsh’s one-man play, Misterman.

“I was in Cillian Murphy’s head in that play at the National Theatre. A lot of characters came on in the audio. We did the recording on Hampstead Heath with Cillian, Enda, and a few other actors. I only met Cillian once that time. He was a very nice fellow, very humble and genuine.

“Cillian is probably the most-respected actor in the world now. And Enda (whose career kicked off in Cork with Disco Pigs starring Cillian and Eileen Walsh) is doing fantastic; he’s a golden boy.”

JD, 58, who lives on Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes had an address there!) in London, says the city is “massively gay-friendly. But of course, there is a big backlash nowadays against the whole LGBT thing from the far right movement in the UK, and especially in America right now... It’s really disturbing and distressing.”

A campaigner for LGTB+ rights, JD recorded a version of Too Much and made a video for it a couple of years ago.

“I shot it during a protest here in Parliament Square against conversion therapy. I still get out there with my placard and fight for our rights.”

Currently working on an album which is almost finished, JD has eight original songs on it and two covers, including Over The Rainbow.

“I have also done a cover of Whiskey in the Jar. Thin Lizzy did it but nobody knows who wrote it.”

Inspiration for JD comes from anything that lifts people up.

“When I started writing my own songs five years ago, I deliberately tried to focus on the light. For example, my recent song, Take The Money And Run, is about taking the opportunities that life gives you, running with them and making the most of what you’ve got. It’s about celebrating life, love and freedom.

My song, Dance On Your Own Two Feet, has a very positive vibe and is about taking responsibility for your own life.”