Country star Claudia Buckley cried for two days when she heard Dolly Parton had died... Here are the life lessons she took from the Working 9-5 star, and the one cruel term she hates people using to describe her

SINGER Claudia Buckley has rejected any suggestions of being a ‘nepo baby’ and has revealed her country star father Jimmy was initially ‘nervous’ about her entering the music business.

The Galway woman also paid tribute to her musical and moral guide Dolly Parton, whose death made her ‘cry like a baby for two days’.

Claudia sang Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas on the Late Late Show Country Special with Una Healy and Clodagh Lawlor, while her dad shared memories of Glen Campbell with the country great’s daughter, Ashley.

Claudia told the Irish Mail on Sunday she conversed with and ‘could really relate to’ Ashley backstage, with both following their famous fathers into a career in country music.

But she insisted she took the plunge off her own bat based on her adoration of the genre.

‘My dad was nervous of me getting into the business,’ she said.

‘If anything, when I was younger and I said this is what I would love to do, he actually tried to steer me away. He said: “Claudia, it’s so difficult. It can be so cutthroat.”’

But the Your Wedding Day singer recognised his daughter’s talent and eventually came round to the prospect.

‘He knew I loved it the same way that he loved it, and so he said, “Listen, I see what you have. I see there’s absolutely no steering you any other way because I was the exact same when I was your age.” 

'So his advice was just go for it and grab it with both hands, and be grateful of any opportunity that you have.’

Asked if there’s a dark side lurking behind the ostensibly wholesome genre – which may have concerned her father – Claudia insisted she has ‘only ever had positive experiences in the business, thankfully. And I’m too focused on what I’m doing and the good people in the business to look elsewhere.’

The Athenry woman had her break when Nathan Carter invited her on tour after her 2019 single Diane was a radio hit.

She thanks Carter, who she ended up touring with for three years, and Daniel O’Donnell, who invited her onto his Opry le Daniel show on TG4 while she was still in school, for initial legs-up – and bristles at the term ‘nepo baby’, often unfairly attached to any well-known person with a famous parent.

‘I absolutely hate that term,’ she said. 

‘I think it’s a cruel term, really, to use for anybody who has their own talent. At the end of the day, I can thank my dad, I can thank Nathan and Daniel, which I do, and I am so unbelievably grateful to them for helping me.

‘But I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing – and thank God above in heaven that I’m doing it successfully – only for that I have the talent and I have the drive.’

The singer said that she works ‘harder than most people I know’ not just for herself, but also for her touring band, one of the few country groups on the road full-time with a young female singer.

‘I’m thinking of the people that are along with me all of the time. And I suppose the nepo baby thing is thrown around for lots of people who have a parent in the business, but you can’t help [what family] you’re born into – and what you love [to do] yourself.’

She and Jimmy lead an annual ‘guided music holiday’ called Across The USA, with stops including Memphis, Nashville and Dollywood, the theme park opened by Dolly Parton, who died on August 25 aged 80.

Though she never got to meet her, Claudia said the legendary singer was a ‘huge inspiration since I was a little child’, with Parton’s Coat Of Many Colours the first song she ever learned.

‘When she did pass away, Jesus, I cried like a baby for two days,’ said Claudia, whose signature hit is Drinking With Dolly.

‘It probably sounds almost ridiculous to hear me say that, because when you don’t meet somebody and you don’t know them personally… But I’ve been so heavily influenced by her songwriting and her as a businesswoman.’

She lives by Parton’s doctrine of praying and working hard all her life to get to where she did.

‘I’m by no means a star, but I would have the same philosophy. I prayed every day. I worked so hard, and I’m still working hard. So I will never complain about being tired, or too busy. I will never complain about anybody else. I’m just so happy that I get to do this, and I get to do this as my job, and I love it more than anything else in the world.’

Claudia will headline the Baby Noel Heneghan Barn Dance at the Abbey Hotel in Roscommon later this month, in aid of FirstLight, a charity which supports bereaved families after a child dies.

Gerard Heneghan began raising money for the charity aged 13, in honour of his brother Noel, who died as an infant in 2001.

‘For a family that’s been through so much hurt and pain – and still wants to help other families that have been affected similarly – I think it’s incredible,’ Claudia said.
 

Claudia Buckley will headline the Baby Noel Heneghan Barn Dance at the Abbey Hotel, Roscommon, on Saturday, October 17, in aid of FirstLight.