Mic Christopher honoured as friends revisit The Mary Janes' song 'Heartbreaker'

After 20 years since the untimely passing of Mic Christopher, some of his closest friends have revisited 'Heartbreaker', an unreleased Mary Janes song that never saw the light of day to honour his memory.

Mic Christopher had just turned 32 when he tragically passed away after an accidental fall and head injury on November 29th, 2001. His passing was sudden, leaving his friends and family broken and dumfounded as they grappled with the heartbreaking news, a feeling still present 20 years later.

Glen Hansard shares the struggles of Mic's tragic death, sharing "What happens when in mid conversation fate steps in and steals your best friend away? Well, the conversation continues, somehow, although it’s changed completely; Mic is still a very real and present force to all assembled friends here, and we all hold the line open, even when the static fades.

"How do we honour and remember him? We sing his songs… when words fail and fall short, we sing his words, in his melody, in his style, in his inimitable voice, we remember him by mirroring and mimicking the honourable rock star: hips out, head up, big voice, that high soaring tone, that swagger, courage, plume and strut, part Elvis, Jim, Fela, Marley, and Drake, to name a few from whom his cloth was cut.

"All we have now are his songs, the ones he recorded and others unfinished, incomplete beauties that we go back to, when a song is still in that first draught unfinished state, it holds a magic, an expectant potential, asking to be finished, all roads still open, to be pulled back out and re-examined.

"But when it’s author is no longer here to finish it, some might say leave it. And they might be right, but when the song was so near completion and so good that it already sang true and bright, the job might fall to his closest friends to pull it off the old cassette and back into the light."

In November 2002, through the persistent work of Karl Odlum and brother David, captaining a large assembly of Mic’s musician friends, Skylarkin', Mic’s first solo album, was released to critical acclaim. This album contained inspiring anthems ‘Heyday’ and ‘Skylarkin’ which posthumously plunged Mic and his devastating story into hearts and homes across Ireland and the world.

Once again, a large cohort of Mic and The Mary Janes’ friends have assembled from across music fields and beyond to honour a deeply missed friend, recording a previously unreleased song from The Mary Janes titled ‘Heartbreaker,’ produced by David Odlum.

"Friendship is stored in the most precious place of our being and that it can resonate even after death is very reassuring to me ..... an absolute treat to be involved in re-recording a few of our old friend Mic's songs , to have him in the headphones was very special," said Ronan Ó Snodaigh.

The release of this song proves that through the hands of musicians, a collective can come together and build a virtual shrine to a man, who after twenty years, can live on in his music forever.

Alongside the release, Glen Hansard has released a tribute video to Mic Christopher, recounting memories from decades past that Mic's friends and family spent with him.

For the ten years prior to a solo career, Mic rode point with his band The Mary Janes. Mic’s time in the group would see him travel to all ends of the world and create a multitude of prodigious songs, many remaining unreleased to this day.

Hot Press recently revealed that the brand new film celebrating the life and work of Dublin singer Mic Christopher, Heyday: The Mic Christopher Story, will make its Irish TV premiere on TG4 over Christmas.

Speaking to Hot Press back in 2019 about why he wanted to make the film, writer Níall Carver said that "There's a possibility, with certain people who achieve a level of fame and then pass on, that time will pass them by and further generations won't get to experience and share the music they made.

It seemed glaringly obvious to me that Mic was one of those musicians. There was a danger of things slipping through the cracks of time, so the aim was to create a legacy film, a document of this great Irish talent, for the people who loved him and also for the people who hadn't yet heard of him."

Listen and watch to the touching tribute 'Heartbreaker' single and video below.