{"id":429054,"date":"2026-04-10T09:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/429054\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:51:15","slug":"the-first-time-my-family-saw-me-i-was-singing-about-who-they-might-be-on-the-late-late-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/429054\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The first time my family saw me, I was singing about who they might be on The Late Late Show’"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re brought up with your birth family and everything happens as would generally be expected in life, you somehow don\u2019t see the threads that connect us all.<\/p>\n

But as a person born of chance \u2014 my birth parents meeting, giving me up, my parents adopting me \u2014 there\u2019s an insane amount of randomness to my existence.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a lot of crazy coincidences, serendipitous moments in my life. Being on a different path, I\u2019ve seen them clearly.<\/p>\n

Life has a way of connecting things. It happened the night we were on The Late Late Show in October 2014. The background to this: We\u2019d had a difficult few years \u2014 the band Delorentos \u2014 chasing this thing in the industry, playing music we weren\u2019t as fond of, but it was cool at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A huge record deal had fallen apart. So we thought: Let\u2019s write songs about personal things, things we care deeply about.<\/p>\n

I was trying to write a realistic song about love and being adopted. I wrote Petardu \u2013 a song about who my birth parents might be.<\/p>\n

I was born in Bessborough mother and baby home<\/a>. I had little information. I had darker skin than my friends. I\u2019d make up stories. Was my mother from Cork, my father from somewhere else?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never gone to look for my birth parents. I have parents, amazing people. I was protective of them, never felt I was missing anything.<\/p>\n

I got married in the summer of 2013 and \u2014 for biological, family history reasons and curiosity \u2014 I thought I\u2019d check out who my birth parents might be. So I applied to C\u00fanamh. It said it\u2019d get back to me if my birth mother wanted contact.<\/p>\n

One day, while packing the van for a gig in Letterkenny that night, a phone call from C\u00fanamh. It had all these details.<\/p>\n

I stood to the side, the guys packing the van. I got my birth mother\u2019s first name. I had brothers and sisters. I stood there, shocked. Suddenly, this whole world opened up. C\u00fanamh told me where she lived. She lived in Letterkenny.<\/p>\n

I played that show, spent the whole time in this dream world, staring at the audience, wondering it they were in the audience. Who looks like me? My siblings could have been there, considering the age of the audience.<\/p>\n

\" Kieran McGuinness: ‘I didn\u2019t realise my letter mentioning Delorentos had started a chain reaction in Letterkenny. My birth mother decided to tell her family about me. She showed them the letter. They devoured all this information.’ Picture: Moya Nolan.<\/p>\n

My birth mother and I very slowly started to write to each other, giving small details \u2014 you\u2019re supposed to take it slowly. There was lots of time between letters; each letter goes via the adoption agency. The month before our Late Late Show appearance, I mentioned in a letter that I was in Delorentos.<\/p>\n

What was also happening: Emily and I were going to have a baby. On the night of TheLate Late Show we\u2019d reached the three-month mark \u2014 we planned to tell the band after the show. I was nervous about how they\u2019d react. We were a full-time band, just back from a US tour.<\/p>\n

I needn\u2019t have worried.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realise my letter mentioning Delorentos had started a chain reaction in Letterkenny. My birth mother decided to tell her family about me. She showed them the letter. They devoured all this information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow! This person! Playing music!\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, my siblings went online and found out I\u2019d be playing on The Late Late Show.They got all the family together, the cousins, everyone. On that night, all the family in Letterkenny sat down to watch me.<\/p>\n

\" Kieran McGuinness: ‘Me becoming a father brought perspective, understanding of what my birth mother must have gone through to give up a child, how hard it must have been. The whole thing brought a lot of the truth home.’ Picture: Moya Nolan.<\/p>\n

The first time any of them saw me in real life, singing Petardu, a song about who they might be.<\/p>\n

I had no idea they were watching but, when I went to sing, I felt the weight of the number of people watching me.<\/p>\n

I thought maybe, maybe they\u2019re out there, maybe they\u2019re watching. Our letters continued. Later, my birth mother described how they\u2019d all come together and watched the show. I couldn\u2019t believe it. It felt like the thing that was supposed to happen.<\/p>\n

That night was the link between our having a child, announcing to family and friends that we were having a child, while at the same time, I was being announced to my birth mother and family in Donegal.<\/p>\n

The announcement was going forward, and the announcement was going backwards.<\/p>\n

When I met my birth mother for the first time, Emily was heavily pregnant.<\/p>\n

It was magical for everyone. Me becoming a father brought perspective, understanding of what my birth mother must have gone through to give up a child, how hard it must have been. The whole thing brought a lot of the truth home.<\/p>\n

I worried how it would affect my parents, \u00c1ine and Joe McGuinness, it just made their life and connection to me stronger.<\/p>\n

All through the process of meeting my birth mother and family, there were loads of unexpected events. The whole thing has made me more reflective and mindful of the bonds we all have. I\u2019m very careful not to take any of those bonds for granted.<\/p>\n