Concert in memory of tragic Cork musician Rory, who died aged 24

A hugely talented young Cork musician, Rory Craig, who died in a traffic accident last December, will be remembered at a special concert at MTU Cork School of Music (CSM) on June 15.

Rory, who was from Togher, was a gifted musician who had graduated from MTU CSM with a first class honours Masters in commercial composition.

He was the highest placed student across all strands of the taught MA, and was awarded a bursary for further study.

Aged just 24 when he died while travelling home from a gig in Killarney, Rory had just launched his career in the music industry with his single, Seen it All Before. The melodic song went to No 1 in the iTunes charts on its release on April 25.

Chris Ahern, who taught Rory at MTU CSM, following his retirement from the former Colaiste Stiofáin Naofa (now the Cork College of FET – Tramore Road Campus), reckoned the budding star could have done well on Broadway and on the West End.

Hours before Rory’s tragic accident, Rory was in Chris’s house working on a musical.

“I asked him what he wanted to achieve in music,” recalled Chris. “I thought it would be musicals and arrangements, stuff he was good at. He was good at everything actually.

“I was surprised when he said he was thinking of putting his own songs out there again (having taken down his material from the internet.) I hadn’t realised he had a single ready.

“In every way, he was pointing in the right direction.”

Rory’s mother, Ursula, who worked with Chris at the Tramore Road Campus on the music, management and sound course, says her only child was “gentle and modest with a cracking sense of humour”.

She added: He was great fun to be around, great for giving advice, and wise beyond his years.

“He went to Togher Boys’ National School and became an expert on soccer. I have a room full of Liverpool memorabilia such as comics and books. Rory played soccer with Greenwood FC in Togher.”

At Christians for his secondary school education, Rory excelled academically. Music was always important to him, and Ursula and her husband encouraged this interest.

“When he was a toddler, I gave him a cupboard in the kitchen and put a little stereo into it,” said Ursula.

“By the age of four, he knew most of the Beatles’ songs and could sing them in the right key.

“At some stage, he started on the violin, but neither Rory nor I could stick the scratching sound of it and in the interests of having a relationship with me, it was decided it might be best to put the violin away.

“I did piano with him for a while, but that was never a good idea, so he went to the late and much0loved Eleanor Malone at MTU CSM, doing piano with her for a number of years.”

Rory told Eleanor that he was going to be the editor of the New York Times one day. “He was a huge reader and a lovely writer. His American grandparents on his father’s side were both journalists. That family were all very good writers. Rory had a natural flair.”

When he was in Transition Year in 2016, Rory wrote to the former editor of the Echo, Maurice Gubbins, looking for a placement. “Maurice agreed to meet him and Rory got two weeks’ work experience at the Echo. He wrote two-page spreads and everything.

“He wrote about Leicester City winning the league. He wrote about school rugby and rugby injuries. He did some arts coverage.”

After leaving school, Rory decided to study maths science at UCC. But after two years, he told Ursula that he didn’t really like what he was doing.

“I kind of guessed that,” she recalled. “He was thinking of studying English and becoming a journalist. I went for a walk and thought about it. When I came back I asked Rory if he’d think of studying music. He said that was a great idea.

“He got advanced entry into the third year of the popular music degree at MTU CSM and did really well.”

But not all was well with Rory’s beloved parents. Ursula’s husband and Rory’s father, the American tenor Rob Craig, died of pancreatic cancer in 2021.

Ursula was then diagnosed with breast cancer in July, 2024. It was caught at an early stage and she had a lumpectomy.

“I started chemotherapy in October,” said Ursula. “Rory was my chauffeur for those sessions. He took that role very seriously.

“I managed the chemo quite well and had a few weeks of radiotherapy. I’m fine now.”

But life has been cruel to Ursula. How does she cope with the loss of her husband and son?

“I think you have to have a purpose,” she explains. “That helps me to skirt around the black hole.

“At the moment, my purpose is to honour Rory’s achievements in his very short life. That’s why we decided to do the tribute concert.

“I think of Rory as being somewhere else. I don’t do long-term forecasts anymore.”

At the concert on Sunday, June 8, performers will include staff and students from MTU CSM; members of O Emperor - a band that Rory loved - and an orchestra featuring special guests. These will include Cork singer/songwriter Áine Whelan, and Cormac McCarthy, who will conduct the orchestra. There will be a video of Rory singing the O Emperor song, Sedalia.

All proceeds from Rory’s single and the concert will go to Breakthrough Cancer Research.

Tickets are available from eventbrite : Rory Craig – A life of Music.