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Halfway Home : My Life 'til Now
Halfway Home My Life 'til Now
Author: Ronan Tynan
Yes, I am a singer. But I am also a horseman, an athlete, and a doctor. I am a son, a brother, and a friend. I can sing as I do only because of the life that I've led. With each decade, I've found myself in very different, evermore challenging arenas, but the many stages of my life have always intertwined. I have moved from one stage to the n...  more »-- from the IntroductionIn Halfway Home, a beautifully written memoir, Ronan Tynan, a member of the enormously popular Irish Tenors, shares his remarkable story of overcoming adversity and attaining worldwide success in several different areas. Diagnosed with a lower limb disability at birth, Ronan Tynan had his legs amputated below the knee when he was twenty years old. Eight weeks later, he was climbing the stairs of his college dorm, and within a year, he was winning races in the Paralympic Games, amassing eighteen gold medals and fourteen world records. After becoming the first disabled person ever admitted to the National College of Physical Education, he served a short stint in the prosthetics industry and began a new career in medicine. He continued his studies at Trinity College, where he specialized in orthopedic sports injuries.After earning his medical degree, Ronan chose music for the next act in his life. Less than one year after he began studying voice, he won both the John McCormick Cup for Tenor Voice and the BBC talent show Go for It. He went on to win the prestigious International Operatic Singing Competition in France, and in 1998 his debut Sony album, My Life Belongs to You, became a top-five hit in England within just two weeks and eventually went platinum. Later that year, he was invited to join The Irish Tenors, furthering a journey that started in a small Irish village and has brought him to the world's grandest stages.In Halfway Home, Tynan movingly describes his life story, which Barbara Walters called "so amazing you may find it hard to believe."
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ISBN-13: 9780743222914
ISBN-10: 0743222911
Publication Date: 1/8/2002
Pages: 240
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 2

4 stars, based on 2 ratings
Publisher: Scribner
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
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reviewed Halfway Home : My Life 'til Now on + 18 more book reviews
A wonderful,true and courageous story of this member of the singing group, "The Irish Tenors". Born with severe deformities of his feet and legs, doctors felt he would never walk. He did learn to walk with heavy braces on both legs and became a champion equestrian as well. He graduated from Trinity College in Dublin with a medical degree. Following a motorcycle accident both legs were amputated below the knees. He went on to win a talent contest, study opera in England and Germany and landed a recording contract.
It is an amazing tale of dtermination and courage!
reviewed Halfway Home : My Life 'til Now on
Tynan, now a world-famous Irish tenor, was born with severe deformities of the feet and leg, but went on to defy the doctors and not only walk on his own, but become a champion equestrian. When a motorcycle accident made it necessary for both his legs to be amputated below the knee, he got artificial limbs and kept right on. He intended to become a medical doctor and got a degree from Trinity College, but then won a BBC TV talent contest and turned to studying opera. Four years later he had a recording contract.

I was surprised to learn that he had not set out to be a singer and that his musical career is still so young. Unfortunately, except for telling us in the Epilogue how he sang at Yankee Stadium in New York as part of a memorial for the 9/11 victims, he stopped short of writing about his life after becoming one of "The Irish Tenors." Maybe he is saving that for a sequel.

I won't say that the writing is superb, but the story is moving and inspiring, and anyone who enjoys Tynan's singing or needs a shot of encouragement should read this book. The blurb on the back cover calls it "a heart-warmer, moving, and really courageous," and I would like to add, "humorous," too.


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