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Ahead of his September show, Robert Grace charts his musical roots.

Irish singer-songwriter Robert Grace has come a long way in the past year, especially when it comes to that ever-important fanbase.

Hey, 3 million TikTok users can’t be wrong.

And now the social media phenomenon brings his fittingly-titled – and recently released – debut album Happy Sad Songs all the way from Kilkenny to Greystones for one night only.

A career born out of the lockdowns, Grace broke through when his song Fake Fine gained over 30m streams, with his latest offering, Euphoria, currently taking over BBC Radio 1.

You can find out what all the fuss is about when the lad plays The Whale on Saturday, September 8th.

In the meantime, we ask young Robert for the sounds that shaped him…

I come from a very musical family. Everyone can sing, everyone can play an instrument and my dad has been in a traditional Irish band since before I was ever around.

When I was a baby I used to sit in front of the telly with a little drum, with one stick, playing along to Christy Moore for hours. If my dad’s band had an early gig, I would get to go down, sit in the buggy and watch them. I wouldn’t make a sound for the whole show apart from playing along on a bodhran my mam would give me.

I’ve always felt a deep connection to music. I also loved lyrics and poetry. I wrote my first song when I was around 8 years old, called Dream Girls. It was terrible!!

When I was 13 I wrote my first proper song, How I Feel Inside. I ended up winning some local talent competitions with that track and I remember everyone in the school having it on their phone.

Back then you had to send it around by bluetooth! That was the first song I ever got to record.

That was the moment I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

Robert Grace plays The Whale on Saturday, September 8th 2024 – tickets here: https://whaletheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873646866