Vincent Hanley, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetVincent Hanley
Irish radio DJ and early AIDS death
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Clonmel, Munster, Ireland
About Vincent Hanley
- Vincent Hanley (born in Clonmel, County Tipperary on 2 April 1954, died in Dublin on 18 April 1987) was a pioneering Irish radio DJ and television presenter, nicknamed "Fab Vinny".
- He worked mainly for Raidió TeilifÃs Éireann, and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.
- He has been described as "Ireland's first gay celebrity."Hanley began presenting pop music shows on RTÉ Radio Cork in 1976.
- He also did stints in Dublin on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ television, including a special on Gilbert O'Sullivan.
- When the first dedicated pop station, RTÉ Radio Two (now branded 2FM), was started in 1979, he was one of its best-known DJs.
- While in Dublin he shared accommodation with Charles Self.
- In 1981, he moved to London to work for Capital Radio.
- In 1984, he declined a lucrative offer to remain there and moved to New York City.Hanley founded Green Apple Productions in 1983 with Conor McAnally, an RTÉ television producer and son of actor Ray McAnally.
- The company produced MT-USA (Music Television USA), a three-hour-long music video show modelled on the new American cable channel, MTV.
- MT-USA was broadcast on RTÉ from 1984–87 on Sunday afternoons.
- Each block of videos was followed by a segment filmed in New York City with Hanley introducing the videos, discussing American music and culture, and interviewing a celebrity.
- RTÉ described him as Europe's first VJ (video jockey).In 1987, Hanley died shortly after his 33rd birthday.
- He had been visibly ill for some time, and was rumoured to have an AIDS-related illness, which he denied.
- This reflected the stigma then associated with the disease and with homosexuality in Ireland, which was not decriminalised until 1993.
- The illness admitted by Hanley was congenital cerebral toxoplasmosis, described as an "eye disorder"; he was blind in one eye by his death.
- Toxoplasmosis is very rarely fatal in adults who do not have a weakened immune system.
- In 2000, Hanley's friend and colleague Bill Hughes, who had himself come out in the 1990s, agreed that Hanley had in fact died of an AIDS-related illness.
- The same year, the Sunday Tribune newspaper placed Hanley at the top of a list of Irish gay icons.
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