He has had a long and distinguished musical career and lives in Dublin with his wife Sheila. They have three children living in Australia, Geraldine, Gary and Aisling.

Tony grew up in the Liberties and he started off playing in various groups and bands. A veteran of the Irish cabaret scene, including 20 years with Jury's Irish Cabaret, Tony is married to choreographer and producer, Joan Kenny, and they have two children, Christopher (27) and Victoria (20).

Tony and Joan's new show, Celtic Storm, is a traditional Irish musical show of song, dance, storytelling and laughter and it will run until October at 57 Middle Abbey Street. Bookings (01) 877 9999 www. celticstorm. ie.

Tony on Sonny

My first impression of Sonny was that he was a really lovely man and I've never thought anything less of him since. He'd be the first person I'd call if I had a problem. When I first started in the showbands I called him because he was the guy that had been doing it for so long. He said, "Pay your taxes, and you'll be fine, " and it was good advice.

Sonny's young daughter Aisling became a fan of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat when I was playing Joseph in the 1970s, so he and Sheila would bring her along to the shows and we'd always have a chat afterwards. We grew even closer when we were both doing Aladdin for RTE with Jack Cruise around 1976 and we spent all our lunch-breaks and free time together. We made a single together, 'Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song', in 1975 and we went on The Late, Late Show and performed it together.

Apart from being a wonderful singer, musician and performer, Sonny has never lost the common touch. He is very much the man on the street, and doesn't have any pretensions. If there's one great thing about him that I envy, it's that as soon as he appears on stage, everyone just loves him. He's not there to impress the musicians . . . he knows what the audience loves him for and he delivers it every time. And nobody does more work for charity than Sonny - he's always the first to say yes when asked.

I think it's fantastic that Sonny is able to give the same quality performance, whether it's Sheila behind him banging a tray or the symphony orchestra. He has always been the king of the cabaret lounge and when other artistes tried to do what he did, or came out singing his songs, they'd usually fall on their backsides.

Sonny was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in October 2006. I went up to see him in hospital after his operation, and he was in great form because he was under the influence of the morphine. I can see a huge improvement in Sonny these days, and I'm delighted that he's doing so well.

Whenever you think of Sonny, you automatically think of his lovely wife Sheila because they're such a united team and are always together. As a testament to how highly Sonny is regarded, the Performing Artistes Association is honouring him at a show in Citywest in September, and I'm delighted to have been asked to sing at it. He also has an album of his hit songs coming out later on in the year and I'm looking forward to us doing a show together again when he's got his full strength back.

Sonny on Tony

I came across Tony in the late 1960s, when Tommy O'Rourke told me that he had a new singer in The Sands Showband called Tony Kenny and would I go down and have a listen to him and maybe give him some pointers.

As soon as Tony came out on stage, the place fell apart, with everyone screaming and roaring . . . he had the place eating out of his hand. I never went next nor near him and the following day I called Tommy and said, "Are you out of your Chinese mind wanting me to give him advice? He's better than me!"

Tony asked me if I fancied doing the Christmas show at the Braemor Rooms with him in 1985. We both did our own thing on stage and then the two of us did duets and medleys together at the end, with a great bit of banter and fun.

The audience couldn't get enough of it and it just took off. We did it for three Christmases in a row. It was wonderful and we never had a cross word . . . there was great camaraderie between us.

Another connection was that Tony's mammy was a fan of mine, and when she went to her reward, I sang at her funeral in the church in Francis Street.

Tony has been very supportive of me through my illness and thankfully I'm feeling good now, but I need to build up my energy again. The operation was totally successful and they were able to take all of the cancer away. They raised up my stomach, so it's a lot smaller, and I get a bit breathless, but it's all coming back slowly. Everyone has been marvellous, and I had great faith in Professor Reynolds.

What I always thought was great about Tony is that even when he became so famous he still stayed in touch and never forgot about the guy he used to talk to before he became so well-known and went off to America with his shows. That was the joy of joys for me and I loved him for it. We don't keep throwing work talk at one another . . . Tony is totally modest, unlike other people who talk about nothing else but their careers and how many thousands they had at gigs.

His wife Joan is great too and she was the one who always got me to dance for the shows. They never fail to ring me to go to the shows wherever they are. I was at the new show, Celtic Storm, last week and I thought it was really terrific. It's very Irish and beautifully done.