Failed Christian

Over the past five decades, legendary guitarist Henry McCullough has worked alongside some of the greatest names in the music business over the past five decades and performed across the world.

Now the 65-year-old music veteran from Portstewart is setting the record straight on his life and career on BBC Radio Ulster in a candid interview with Gerry Anderson.

In the hour-long special Failed Christian, on BBC Radio Ulster on Saturday, August 30 at 11am, Henry bares his soul to Gerry Anderson about his career, his experiences with drugs and alcohol, his relationship with Janis Joplin and the musicians he has performed with over the years and why, after traveling the globe, he has returned to his native home of Northern Ireland.

Gerry Anderson says: "I suppose all that I can say is that I felt very lucky to be with Henry when he was ready to open up and talk. He's done so many interviews over the years but I really feel that there is an intimate depth in what we discussed that has perhaps been missing in the past. It's may sound strange, but it was like he woke up that morning and just decided that this would be the interview where he would open up and set the record straight on his life. It was a privilege to be with him for that."

Henry McCullough first got into music as a child when his mother would take him to church services and says of that time: "The power of the music scared and humbled me."

He started in his professional music career in the early 1960s with Enniskillen showband The Skyrockets before going on to become one of the world's most sought after guitarists. As well as famously joining Sir Paul McCartney's band Wings at the request of the former Beatle, Henry has worked with such renowned artists as Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and performed everywhere from Woodstock to the Rotterdam Bar in Belfast.

Telling Gerry about his first audition with The Skyrockets and his much more famous audition with Paul McCartney to join the band Wings, Henry says: "Joining Wings was no worse than joining the Skyrockets - Wings was a showband with all the songs well rehearsed so you couldn't go wrong whether you played badly or not."

Henry also discusses his relationship with 60s icon Janis Joplin and his experience of the drug culture and his battle with alcoholism, saying: "I ended up with the arse out of my trousers playing for coppers in Portrush after playing the Royal Albert Hall."

Now about to set off on another tour and release his new album, Poor Man's Moon, Henry tells Gerry how his life and come full circle since moving back to his beloved Northern Ireland in the 1980s where he says he is now contented in life, writing songs and playing gigs.