Peter Cunnah, the frontman of 1990s dance-pop duo D:Ream, has uncovered the full truth about his family history, decades after being taken from his birth mother in a notorious Irish convent. The 59-year-old musician was born in 1966 at Nazareth House, a mother-and-baby home near Buncrana in County Donegal, run by nuns. His unmarried mother, Ann McCrea, was forced to pray for forgiveness while her newborn was taken away. 'That system,' Cunnah says, shaking his head at the cruelty.
The homes, also known as Magdalene laundries, have become infamous for their mistreatment of young pregnant women in staunchly Catholic Ireland. 'In some of these places, they’re finding bodies of babies buried in the grounds,' Cunnah notes. At less than a week old, he was given up for adoption and did not see his birth mother again for 25 years. When they finally met, she immediately recognised his habits, asking if he smoked other people's cigarettes and liked spicy food. 'It was a really emotional moment,' he recalls.
Cunnah grew up in Londonderry, knowing from age four that he was adopted. His adoptive mother, Monica, broke the news after dropping hints, including singing the country song Nobody's Child. Despite a difficult childhood during the Troubles, he says he 'dealt with it'. In 1991, just before D:Ream's breakthrough, a letter arrived from his birth mother, which he describes as 'an outpouring of absolute trauma and grief and regret'.
In recent months, Cunnah has finally completed the 'final corner of the jigsaw puzzle', discovering a half-sister who is a professional singer, a half-brother who also performed on Top of the Pops, and a father who was unaware of his existence. The newfound family members surprised him by wearing T-shirts printed with the title of D:Ream's biggest hit, Things Can Only Get Better, followed by the lyric 'Now you found us'.
Cunnah describes the reunion as surpassing even the moment at Glastonbury 2024 when D:Ream were joined on stage by original keyboard player Brian Cox, now a renowned scientist and TV presenter. 'That was such a lovely moment,' he says, recalling the roar of the crowd. The family gathered in Manchester to celebrate the release of D:Ream's new album, Do It Anyway.
