Tributes paid at Jim Aiken's funeral

Among those joining them at St. Brigid’s Church in the Derryvolgie area of Belfast were Irish record company bosses Dave Pennefather and Annette Donnelly, The Mean Fiddler’s Melvyn Benn, Asgard’s Paul Charles, O.J. Kilkenny’s Pat Savage, Donal Gallagher, Ticketmaster’s Tommy Higgings, RTRs Bob Collins, BBC Radio Ulster’s Ralph McLean, the POD organisation’s John Reynolds and Riverdance man Maurice Cassidy.
A letter was read out at the service from Bruce Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa, who spoke of being “crushed” when they heard that Mr. Aiken was seriously ill.
The past couple of days have seen tributes pouring in from all sectors of the music industry.
“I dare say if it wasn’t for big Jim Aiken I wouldn’t have got this show off the ground,” says Michael Flatley in relation to the support Lord Of The Dance received from Aiken. “I was kind of on my own and Jim stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me. Just about everybody in showbusiness in Ireland would have a similar story about their careers.”
Former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds describes him as “a perfect gentleman. He was a delight to do business with”.
Sir Cliff Richard speaks of the “trust and respect” he had for Aiken who persuaded him to play in Belfast during the height of The Troubles.
"He was the one who said 'come on, go and do it'”, Richard recalls. "When you have respect for somebody, you trust them - and I did - and everything worked really, really well.”
A full tribute to Jim Aiken appears in our next issue.