WHAT ARE YOU LIKE IN A RELATIONSHIP? ARE YOU A GIVER OR A TAKER?

Hopefully I'm a giver - though I love taking as well!

Gill and I met at a disco in Soho when I was 18. I'd come over to London from Ireland when I was 15 to work on the building sites, and I was living in Paddington. One night a girl told me not to go the disco in Soho because all the Kilburn guys would be waiting there to have a go at the Paddington guys. But I just had this feeling - something that was impossible to explain - that I had to go there that night. I got there at 10pm and had met Gill by 10.30pm ... and neither of us has ever looked back. We got married two years later.

We've been married over 40 years now, and the secret of making a relationship work is give and take. She's been very understanding about my career, too. Gill wouldn't often travel on the road with me, but her family was involved in the music business so she accepts that's the way it has to be.

Probably one of the biggest adjustments we both had to make revolved around the fact that I'm Irish and she is English. There is a massive cultural barrier that you have to negotiate. And there's a part of your culture that is deep inside you, that will never change - and it's right for both of you to hold on to that. How do I notice it the most? I suppose the craic, the fun ... Gill can be talking about something quite serious and I'll start making jokes ... not always wise, but I still start doing it second-nature. Though we've lived in England since we married, we have a house in Tralee, which we visit for holidays.

Gill is also Church of England while I was raised a Catholic, but that never even came into it with us. We both believe in God, and that's enough.

Gill's strongest qualities are patience, and also trying to understand every situation so that she can do the best she can within that situation.

Oh, and nobody ever leaves our house without getting a meal - no matter whether we know you really well or if you are a stranger. Gill is a great cook and goes to great trouble to cook different meals every night. One of the reasons I really hate being away on the road is because I miss her cooking so much.

ONLY CHILD OR ONE OF A CROWD?

I have five sisters and three brothers. Growing up in Tralee, our little house, with just two bedrooms, was also shared by my nephew, David, and a strange man who had been living and working up the road, but didn't like it there, so shifted down to us.

One of my sisters, Georgina, died at 44, and I still find that hard to accept - I think that if I phone her she is bound to pick up the phone. Thankfully, the rest of my siblings are alive and I get on really well with them. Two of my sisters live in England, but everyone else has remained in Ireland.

Though we were a big family in a small house, there was a lot of fun. Every Saturday night there'd be music and dancing in the living room, and then mum would clean and polish to get it tidy again for another week.

ARE YOU CLOSER TO YOUR MUM OR DAD?

My dad passed away when I was six so I did not get the opportunity to know him. He was just 42 when he died from a brain haemorrhage. Dad was an electrician, but he also used to play an accordian and sing. I honestly don't know if I remember him doing that or if I was told stories by mum so often that I think I remember it. But I think I do ... He spent as long as he could trying to make a living from music and then he studied to be an electrician. Still, even though my recollection of dad is hazy, the impact of that loss is indescribable. I think my life would have been utterly different if he had been there - not least because I would have learned to read and write, which I still cannot do.

Probably because of dad's death, I was a little late in starting school. Mum didn't enrol me until I was six and a half and I only stayed there until 11. I hated it - I ran home every day.

Every morning after Mass mum would walk me to school, but an hour or so after she left I would race home through the fields to the house and look through the window to see that she was there, safe and well. When I was happy that she was ok, then I would go back to the classroom for a few hours. I think it all stemmed from a fear that something would happen to her, just as it had done to dad.

Back at school, I would have to stand all day as a punishment. It could also be quite violent in the classroom in those days, though I don't blame the teachers, that's just how it was back then.

But the upshot of it was that I never learned to read or write - and still can't.

Of course, I've tried to learn on many occasions since then. I suffer from dsylexia, which doesn't help, but I think my main problem is fear ... I'm just so frightened of the whole process. I've been to numerous private tutors, but to no effect. Everything I learn one day, I forget the next.

Being illiterate has had a huge impact. I love books, but have never been able to sit down and read one. Instead, I have hundreds of talking books. Writing songs can be complicated, too. I get a blank tape and sing into it for hours and hours, then listen back to it - it's like a jigsaw, with me joining up all the bits that I like.

I've been writing music for 40 years now and the older I get the more surprised i am at how a song actually comes to be written.

I'm probably helped by the fact that I have a good memory, something that I worked on when I was young to compensate for not being able to read. My first job was as a messenger boy and every morning I'd be given 10 parcels. As they were handed to me I was told who each one was for. I had to memorise those details and the shape of the parcel, since I certainly wouldn't have been able to read the addresses later when I was out on the road.

It's the small things that catch you out - I couldn't really choose a birthday card for someone. When it comes to writing it, I need someone to write the inscription on a piece of paper in large print so that I can copy it.

In many ways it is like being blind. I have to ask to have this email or that letter read to me. It's been hell. Luckily, Gill has become adept at helping me out - she just does what needs to be done now without asking.

But it's a big problem and one that is not talked about enough. It's also one of the reasons I've become involved with the charity, Children In Crossfire. It works tirelessly worldwide to help children and their communities affected by poverty, and I'm particularly interested in their schools literacy programmes.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

My children - they are all musical. Hermione now has her own video company and also sings with me. She's currently writing songs for an album of her own.

Tim is studying conducting and plays the piano and saxophone. He does a lot of arrangements for me.

And Amber is a violinist with an orchestra. She was a heroin addict for 12 years, but is doing really well now. She came off drugs three years ago, and it was very tough indeed. She came home one day and said that she needed to be with us because she wanted to get clean. We worked through it with her, but at the outset we had no idea how bad going cold turkey would be.

One night she became so ill that she started to collapse. We took her to hospital, where we explained to doctors that she was trying to come off drugs. The doctor told us that he couldn't keep her in hospital, but said that if she was his daughter he would find a fixer and buy some drugs. Then, he would give them to her, but cut back the amount every time. And so I had to phone one of these fixer guys, stand about on a street corner to meet him, then buy some drugs. We did as the doctor said, and we got there.

How did Amber end up on drugs? She started using soft drugs and progressed to the hard stuff. She has always been one of those people for whom just one of anything would never be enough - she always had to have a lot of everything.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST ASHMED OF?

I'm ashamed of not recognising things that are right in front of me, little things that I really should pick up on.

For example, Gill would love to travel abroad, while I'm the exact opposite - when I'm on tour all I want to do is get home. But I feel really bad that I haven't taken more account of her feelings as regards travel, and also that I didn't take her abroad when we were younger.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A FORTUNE-TELLER?

I went to a medium a few times, and then she told me that I could do it, too. So, I started meditating to see what would happen, and I found I was able to begin giving messages to family and friends, and they accepted them.

Even before I spoke to you today, I was given a message to tell you. It's this: if you have not been offered it already, there is an avenue for you to go down. There is something that you are not quite happy with that you should change. I'm just telling you here what I'm feeling; it just happens like that.

I don't do it for my own gain; it's not an ego thing.

I've no idea where this gift comes from, but I would like to believe there is a life beyond this one. I would hate to think that this was it. My mum, dad, and sister have all passed on, but I feel that they are still there and that I will see them again. Surely, there can't just be this?

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A LAPDANCING CLUB?

I have not. There are girls who want to do that sort of thing, there are even those that get involved in prostitution, and that's fine if that's what they want to do. But I don't need a girl like that, and I find it strange that some fellas do. Don't get me wrong - I love girls, just not that sort of thing.

HAVE YOU ANY PHOBIAS?

I never, ever finish a cup of tea or coffee right down to the bottom of the cup. When I was small and running away from school there was a lady called Nan who lived in Tralee. I'd call in and see her and she would make me a cup of tea. But she never washed her cups very well. She would let tea go cold in a cup, then just give it a quick rinse, so there'd be a dark stain left around the bottom half of it. I'd get halfway down and then think 'oh no, I just can't drink any more of that'.

I'm also fanatical about keeping my dressing room tidy. If there is a broom there, then I'd give it a sweep as well. When they're out on the stage saying: "And tonight, ladies and gentlemen, give a warm welcome to Christie ...," I'm still in my room thinking 'hold on a second, I'm just giving the top of this a rub'.

DO YOU TIP IN RESTAURANTS?

I do. I think that's really important. Serving in restaurants is not a great job and 90% of them do it very well. They often have to keep smiling even though customers are giving them terrible abuse.

Even if someone else is paying the bill, I keep an eye on them to make sure they leave a proper tip.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?

I do, though I don't know what He looks like or what form He takes. I believe in reincarnation, and that when we all go, we keep coming back, again and again. I just know that I have been round this way before. I believe that we make this journey many times until we get to a place where we are perfect enough to be part of the Godhead. And then we become part of God and live happily ever after.

I'm still a Catholic, but I don't practise any more. I believe in all religions. I don't believe that one is better than the other. Wherever I am, I like to go into a church and celebrate God, whether it is a Catholic or a Protestant church.

QUICK DEATH OR TIME TO PREPARE?

I've probably been preparing since the day that I was born, so if I'm not ready by now, then it's hardly worth going.

Besides, like I say, I will be back as I know I still have a lot to learn.

Time to prepare? Every time I leave the house to go on tour, I tell each of my family that I love them and what I think of them. It's important to tell those closest to you how much they mean to you.

REGRETS ... HAVE YOU HAD A FEW?

I regret that I didn't stay in school and that I didn't make the best of my time there. Yes, I had some great fun in those days, but fun is not good enough ... fun needs to be balanced with learning.

Sometimes I think 'could you imagine what it would be like to read?' Not being able to read has made my life so much more complicated. If I'm on tour and decide to do a song that I haven't sang for a while, then I have to go and get out the CD and listen to it again and again to relearn the lyrics. I can't just sit down with a piece of paper and memorise the words.

And I have to turn down so much work. I've been asked to go on radio to talk about what is in that day's newspapers, but obviously I can't do that.

If I'm travelling to a gig, I need to make sure I can find my manager at the airport, or else I don't know what time my flight is going.

Christie Hennessy will be at Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick, tonight; Grand Opera House, Belfast, March 25; Riverside Theatre, Coleraine, March 31; Millennium Forum, Londonderry, April 14, and Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen, April 21.

- Christie's new single, A Price For Love, is released today, with all royalities in aid of Children In Crossfire. Download it from www.christiehennessy.com or for further info visit www.childrenincrossfire.org