In 1987, Ireland lost the groundbreaking DJ and TV star, Vincent Hanley to a AIDS-related illness. I would like talk about my memories of Vincent Hanley aka Fab Vinny host of MT USA and hear your memories too. Please share. #FabVinny 
A person's life is best told by their friends and family. Please read this great piece about Vincent Hanley by @UnaMullally in the @IrishTimes last year. irishtimes.com/culture/tv-rad…
Vincent grew up in my home town of Clonmel. His radio career started out with @RTE2fm (fromely RTÉ Radio Two) but he became a household name in the early 80s as the host of a weekly magazine style Music TV show called MT USA.
One sunday in 1984, when was 12 years old - Music Television USA burst onto our TV screens. All our favourite pop and rock videos were introduced by a handsome Irish man called, Vincent Hanley, as he stood on the streets of New York. I was smitten.
Next day at school all my friends were talking about this new music show and my best friend Anthony said, Vincent Hanley's family live nextdoor to him. 😍 - So this man with the cool job in New York was from my hometown! It made life seem more exciting, cos 80s Ireland was grey.
In 1983, Vincent, like so many young Irish who emigrated from Ireland in the 1980s, went headlong into the silent AIDS crisis in the US. Vincent embraced New York city and the gay scene. It took Ireland another decade to decriminalise sex between men in 1993.
Great piece about Vincent here by Cahir O'Doherty @randomirish Arts Editor @ The Irish Voice in NYC: irishcentral.com/opinion/cahiro…
by 1986 - I don't remember seeing MT USA or Vincent on the TV anymore. Then one day in 1987, I saw the newspaper headline that Vincent Hanley had died. It didn't have details of why he died - He was 33 years old.
I lived in Clonmel, the same town that Vincent grew up in, so I started to hear rumours through my friends, they said, "Vincent was gay and had AIDS". I was 15 years old, in the closet and I thought, that's going to happen to me if I become gay, I'm going to die young.
Someone once joked about AIDS in my science class. My science teacher, Mr Crowley, turned around and said, "Does everyone know the difference between HIV and AIDS?" - We stared at him blankly. He said, we're spending the next 45 mins learning everything there is to know about it
In those 45 mins in 1987, I got extra curricular, objective, non-jdugemental, scientific information about HIV and AIDS. It formed the basis of my decisions around safer sex for a decade. 1987 was also the year that #ACTUP was formed in New York. We're still fighting this virus.
Thank you everyone for your sharing your memories of DJ and MTV USA star, Vincent Hanley who lost his fight against an AIDS-related illness in 1987. I spoke with Vincent's brother, @HanleyFergus this morning and he's touched by your stories & kindness #FabVinnie #WorldAIDSDay
