D:Ream comes true for chart topper as Peter returns home

A Derry singer who topped the charts when he moved to London 30 years ago to front 90s band D:Ream has returned to the North West where he has found his 'forever home'.

Peter Cunnah who topped the charts with anthems like 'Things CanOnly Get Better' and 'U R the Best Thing' came home to help look after his mum Monica, who sadly passed away last November.

He has spent lockdown living by the sea in Fahan where he is working on a new album with his former D:Ream bandmate Al McKenzi.

Speaking as a guest on the podcast 'All Change Please', which is co-hosted by Derry journalist Jeananne Craig, he revealed how he is enjoying the change in pace after nearly 30 years in the music scene in the English capital.

Peter, who grew up in Dove Gardens before moving to Carnhill and then Clarendon Street, said he discovered his love of performing as a teenager in Derry.

“We cut our teeth in the sticky carpet in the Gweedore, we put together these gigs and cut our teeth playing live," he said.

"You learnt how to print the tickets, how to put the posters up, get the word of mouth going, we didn’t have the internet and you learnt from the ground up.”

“I got to do a foundation year in Belfast University of Ulster and used the printer to do cassette covers and posters for the band.”

From the outset Peter knew what music he was into.

“I never wanted to get up and entertain people by strumming my pain and hitting them over the head telling them they’re going to hell in a hand cart, that’s not what music’s ever been to me," he explained.

"When I got involved in early house music that optimism and hopefulness, I just wanted to encapsulate that, make people happy and make them dance, just as we did when growing up, that element of fun and hope, and D:Ream was a catalyst for me to do that.”

The former St Columb's College boy moved to London aged 20 where launched a highly successful music career as the front man for D;Ream whose smash hit 'Things Can Only Get Better' became the anthem for New Labour.

Peter says the song still follows him: “I have a thing called the swear box and I make people put a pound in it every time they say, ‘you know what they say Pete, things can only get better!’ Interestingly I was only two weeks into my new house in Donegal when I opened up a euro swear box, and I had 20 euro from builders, moving agents, they were all at it," he laughed.
COMING HOME

After the break up of his first marriage Peter met his new wife Ruth Pilkington five years ago and they married a year later.

The couple decided to move to Fahan last year to help care for Peter's mum Monica and dad Leslie.

“My kids are old enough now to hop on a plane," he explained.

"I learnt to swim on Buncrana beach, we had a caravan down here in Buncrana and spent summers chasing rabbits and going swimming, back then Buncrana was like a mini Las Vegas with all these slot machines.

"I have great memories of that.

"I’ve been keeping my eye on this spot forever and when the time came to move, we were going to buy a plot and build a house but then this house came up.

"It’s great because I’m looking out over Lough Swilly, Inch is just across the way from me.

"This is my forever home, I’m back home where I want to be. I came home to look after my mum and dad, she passed there last November but the idea I could be here and be around for them was just great and my kids could come over."

Peter said he has completely overhauled his lifestyle since moving to Fahan and has even taken up bird watching.

"What I didn’t plan on is what this place has given me.

"I feel connected again, I’ve recharged my batteries, the air is clear, I’ve turned into a bit of a twitcher!

"We’ve got nesting house martins in the summer, I can see starlings, I know the difference between geese and brent geese - don’t tell anyone, I’m supposed to be a house musician.

"It’s wonderful, I absolutely love it. For me it’s been a revelation.”

“It’s a magical place and as yet undiscovered. And long may it be so!”

Peter was speaking to Derry journalist Jeananne Craig on her new Podcast 'All Change Please'.

Jeanne worked in London and Dublin for more than a decade, reporting on breaking news and showbiz red carpets.

But after the birth of her second child in 2015, the Rosemount woman decided to relocate to the city where she grew up.

“I had a great time in London and some amazing experiences there, but like many Derry people living away from home, I always missed it,” Jeananne said.

With a growing trend for people looking to leave built-up cities for quieter, more affordable locations post-lockdown, Jeananne decided to share her experience and that of other ‘city quitters’ in a podcast.

All Change Please is co-hosted by Jeananne, who now works as a freelance journalist and copywriter, and her friend and fellow journalist Jayne Cherrington-Cook, who left London for Kent.

All nine episodes are available now and interviewees in series one include 90s music royalty-turned-designer Pearl Lowe, Irish presenter and illustrator Maggie Molloy, and original Big Brother winner Craig Phillips, who reveals he once rented a room from the show's notorious 'Nasty Nick'.

"We cover all sorts of topics, from the practicalities of moving, to working from home and making friends somewhere new - and whether people have any regrets about leaving a big city," said Jeananne.

The podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify and Acast, and is on Twitter @allchangepod.