26 June 2008
‘On Wings’ completes a remarkable two-part Irish chart statistic, 15 years after ‘This Time’ / ‘Life Without You’ also topped our charts. It means Limerick’s Chris and Leanne Moore are the only mother and daughter to each have an Irish number one single. (The Moores’ closest challengers, Neneh Cherry and Mabel, have both only peaked at no. 3 in Ireland.)
Chris Moore’s chart-topper was, alas, a posthumous one; she had died only a week before, and her record was a fund-raiser for cancer research. Leanne’s number one came in different circumstances – she had won that year’s You’re A Star on RTÉ. However, it too had a tragic backstory; ‘On Wings’ was written in memory of two teenage car crash victims. The song is in the mid-tempo US pop ballad style, the record is well-produced, and you can hear how Leanne Moore’s bright, bubbly voice attracted the You’re A Star vote. I’m more a fan of other types of music, but still: fair play to the Moore family.
