Christie Hennessy was a much loved figure in Irish music circles as both a songwriter and performer. He also reached out to a wider audience to become a great favourite of John Peel's BBC Radio 1 programmes.

Born in Tralee, County Kerry in 1945, Hennessy's exact date of birth seems to have always remained a mystery. The youngest of nine children, he left school at the age of 11, unable to read or write (it was only realised many years later that he suffered from dyslexia). Although his family was poor, his childhood was not deprived and was rich in music-making. His mother sang traditional Irish songs, his father played the accordion and he recalled a regular traffic of friends and neighbours joining the family sessions.

He left Ireland for London in 1960 to work as a labourer on building sites. Adding jazz, blues and rock'n'roll to his love of Irish traditional music, he was soon playing in r&b bands in London pubs and clubs, but it was not until 1968, at the age of 23, that he attempted to write his first song. He made his first recordings four years later, which appeared as The Green Album.

An early champion of his gentle, story-based style of songwriting was John Peel, who invited him to play a session on his radio show in 1974. His records sold steadily rather than spectacularly, particularly with Irish audiences both at home and abroad. But in contrast to most singing careers, which peak early and then decline, Hennessy did not achieve his best sales until the 1990s, after singing to Warner Brothers.

His 1992 album The Rehearsal went triple platinum in Ireland in 1992 and was followed by the equally successful A Year In The Life (1993) , Lord of Your Eyes (1994), The Box (1996) and This Is As Far As I Go (1999). His last album, Stories For Sale, appeared in 2005.

His most recent single was A Price For Love, was written following a trip to Kenya with the Irish charity Children In Crossfire. All royalties from the record were donated to the organisation. Like all of his songs, A Price For Love was written by singing and playing into a tape recorder line by line and then linking together the fragments, rather than with pen and paper. His own dyslexia made him a great supporter of literacy programmes.

His songs were also covered by a number of other leading Irish artists. Maire Brennan of Clannad had a number one solo hit in Ireland with his Jealous Heart in 1992 and Frances Black with his All The Lies That You Told Me three years later.

Best-known of all, though, was Christy Moore's 1983 hit recording of Hennessy's Don't Forget Your Shovel. Written about his days working as a labourer , the song's memorable chorus line, “we want to go to heaven but we're always diggin' holes”, has led to the song is sometimes being called “the alternative Irish national anthem”. Its lyrics were sampled by Nizlopi on their 2005 British and Irish number one, The JCB Song.

As a producer, Hennessy helmed Aled Jones's 1992 album Whenever God Shines His Light. He also composed the theme music for the 1997 BBC TV series Get Well Soon. He died in a London hospice from asbestosis, which his manager claimed was a result of his days working on building sites in the 1960s.

He is survived by his wife Jill and their three adult children.

Christie Hennessy, singer and songwriter, was born in 1945. He died of asbestosis on December 11, 2007, aged 62