{{Short description|Irish radio DJ and television presenter}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Vincent Hanley | image = RTÉ MT-USA Vincent Hanley.jpg | image_size = | caption = Vincent Hanley presenting ''[[MT-USA]]'' from New York City in 1984, three years before his death. | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1954|4|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Clonmel]], [[South Tipperary]], Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|4|18|1954|4|2|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Dublin]], Ireland | death_cause = Cerebral [[toxoplasmosis]] resulting from [[AIDS]] | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = Fab Vinny | known_for = Radio presenting, ''[[MT-USA]]'' and his early death | education = | employer = [[RTÉ]] | occupation = Radio and television presenter }} [[File:Fab_Vinny%27s_house%2C_Clonmel.jpg|thumb|Hanley's family home on Kickham Street, [[Clonmel]]; a plaque in his memory was unveiled in 2013<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/south-tipp-today/154389/Trailblazer-Vincent-honoured-by-Clonmel-.html|title=Trailblazer Vincent honoured by Clonmel|website=www.tipperarylive.ie}}</ref>]]
'''Vincent Hanley''' (2 April 1954 – 18 April 1987)<ref name="apprec">{{cite news |title=Vincent Hanley: an appreciation |date=20 April 1987 |page=8 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |author=JB}}</ref> was an Irish [[radio DJ]] and television presenter, nicknamed '''"Fab Vinny"'''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Broadcast News |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2001/0721/01072100188.html |first=Máire |last=Kearney |date=21 July 2001 |page=46 |access-date=18 October 2007 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> He worked mainly for [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]], and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.<ref name="icons">{{cite news |work=[[Sunday Tribune]] |date=21 August 2000 |title=Irish gay icons |url=http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=TribuneFTF&id=38047&DT=20/08/2000%2000:00:00&keywords=vincent%20hanley |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113171707/http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=TribuneFTF&id=38047&DT=20%2F08%2F2000%2000%3A00%3A00&keywords=vincent%20hanley |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 November 2007 |access-date=20 October 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="Back to the 1980s?">{{cite web |author=Richard Dwyer |url=http://forth.ie/index.php/content/article/back_to_the_1980s/ |title=Back to the 1980s? |date=10 December 2009 |access-date=11 December 2009 |work=[[Forth magazine|forth]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213215942/http://forth.ie/index.php/content/article/back_to_the_1980s |archive-date=13 December 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He has been described as "Ireland's first gay celebrity".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gcn.ie/Jan_2009_Issue_229 |title=Jan 2009, Issue 229 |work=[[Gay Community News (Dublin)|Gay Community News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019080808/http://www.gcn.ie/Jan_2009_Issue_229 |url-status=dead |date=January 2009 |archive-date=19 October 2013 |access-date=9 May 2017}}</ref>
Hanley began presenting pop music shows on [[RTÉ Radio Cork]] in 1976. He also did stints in Dublin on [[RTÉ Radio 1]] and [[RTÉ One|RTÉ television]],<ref name="itbus">{{cite news |title=Green Apple now reaping the harvest |date=13 October 1987 |page=19 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> including a special on [[Gilbert O'Sullivan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.eircom.net/~gilbertosullivan/tv_radio/tv_appearances.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070420235400/http://homepage.eircom.net/~gilbertosullivan/tv_radio/tv_appearances.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 2007 |title=Gilbert O'Sullivan: Television Appearances |access-date=18 October 2007 |quote=''Me and My Music'', RTÉ Television [Ireland]. Broadcast: 6 Oct 1976. Gilbert is interviewed by Vincent Hanley and answers questions from fans in the audience.}}</ref> When the first dedicated pop station, [[RTÉ Radio Two]] (now branded 2FM), was started in 1979, he was one of its best-known DJs.<ref>{{cite news |title=The new radio channel |date=30 May 1979 |page=12 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref name="itdeath">{{cite news |title=Hanley friends deny he had AIDS |date=20 April 1987 |pages=1, 8 |newspaper=The Irish Times |first=Mark |last=Brennock |author2=Padraig Yeates}}</ref> While in Dublin he shared accommodation with [[Charles Self]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/special-reports/unsolved-crimes-mystery-blond-holds-key-to-solving-brutal-murder-of-rte-set-designer-34925812.html |title=Unsolved crimes: Mystery blond holds key to solving brutal murder of RTÉ set designer |work=[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]] |first=Liam |last=Collins |date=31 July 2016 |access-date=23 September 2016 }}</ref> In 1981, he moved to London to work for [[Capital Radio]].<ref name="icons"/> In 1984, he declined a lucrative offer to remain there and moved to [[New York City]].<ref name="icons"/>
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.<ref name="itbus"/> MT-USA was broadcast on RTÉ from 1984 to 1987 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.<ref name="itbus"/> RTÉ described him as Europe's first VJ ([[VJ (media personality)|video jockey]]).<ref name="icons"/>
In 1987, Hanley died shortly after his 33rd birthday.<ref name="apprec"/> He had been visibly ill for some time, and was rumoured to have an AIDS-related illness, which he denied.<ref>{{cite news |title=Private grief versus public good |date=20 April 1987 |page=8 |newspaper=The Irish Times |first=Padraig |last=Yeates }}</ref> This reflected the [[social stigma|stigma]] then associated [[AIDS#Stigma|with the disease]] and with [[LGBT rights in the Republic of Ireland|homosexuality in Ireland]], which was not [[decriminalisation|decriminalised]] until 1993.<ref name="hughes">{{cite news |title=The love that is beginning to speak its name |work=[[Sunday Tribune]] |date=21 August 2000 |url=http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?DT=20/08/2000%2000:00:00&keywords=vincent%20hanley&_scope=TribuneFTF |access-date=20 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110051735/http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?DT=20%2F08%2F2000%2000%3A00%3A00&keywords=vincent%20hanley&_scope=TribuneFTF |archive-date=10 January 2016}}</ref> The illness admitted by Hanley was [[congenital disorder|congenital]] cerebral [[toxoplasmosis]], described as an "[[eye disease|eye disorder]]"; he was blind in one eye by his death.<ref name="itdeath"/> Toxoplasmosis is very rarely fatal in adults who do not have [[Immunodeficiency|a weakened immune system]]. In 2000, Hanley's friend and colleague Bill Hughes, who had himself [[coming out|come out]] in the 1990s, agreed that Hanley had in fact died of an AIDS-related illness.<ref name="hughes"/> The same year, the ''[[Sunday Tribune]]'' newspaper placed Hanley at the top of a list of Irish gay icons.<ref name="icons"/>
In February 2022, [[RTÉ]] aired a new documentary about Hanley, titled ''Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0214/1280732-vincent-hanley-sex-lies-and-videotapes-fab-vinnie-and-me/|title=Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes - Fab Vinnie and me|date=22 February 2022|work=RTE|accessdate=22 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/vincent-hanley-s-spirit-and-kindness-were-so-huge-we-have-to-remember-him-1.4808281|title='Vincent Hanley's spirit and kindness were so huge. We have to remember him'|date=22 February 2022|work=Irish Times|accessdate=22 February 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{2fm}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanley, Vincent}} [[Category:1954 births]] [[Category:1987 deaths]] [[Category:AIDS-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland]] [[Category:Irish radio DJs]] [[Category:Irish television presenters]] [[Category:Irish LGBTQ broadcasters]] [[Category:LGBTQ DJs]] [[Category:Irish gay musicians]] [[Category:People from Clonmel]] [[Category:RTÉ 2fm presenters]] [[Category:RTÉ television presenters]] [[Category:Irish electronic dance music DJs]] [[Category:20th-century Irish LGBTQ people]] [[Category:Broadcasters from County Tipperary]] [[Category:1970s in Irish music]] [[Category:1980s in Irish music]]