Vincent Hanley

{{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 =

| nationality = Irish

| 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; a plaque in his memory was unveiled in 2013{{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}}]]

Vincent Hanley (2 April 1954 – 18 April 1987){{cite news |title=Vincent Hanley: an appreciation |date=20 April 1987 |page=8 |newspaper=The Irish Times |author=JB}} was an Irish radio DJ and television presenter, nicknamed "Fab Vinny".{{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}} He worked mainly for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.{{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 }}{{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 |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 }} He has been described as "Ireland's first gay celebrity".{{cite web |url=http://www.gcn.ie/Jan_2009_Issue_229 |title=Jan 2009, Issue 229 |work=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}}

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,{{cite news |title=Green Apple now reaping the harvest |date=13 October 1987 |page=19 |newspaper=The Irish Times}} including a special on Gilbert O'Sullivan.{{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.}} When the first dedicated pop station, RTÉ Radio Two (now branded 2FM), was started in 1979, he was one of its best-known DJs.{{cite news |title=The new radio channel |date=30 May 1979 |page=12 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{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}} While in Dublin he shared accommodation with Charles Self.{{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 |first=Liam |last=Collins |date=31 July 2016 |access-date=23 September 2016 }} 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 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. 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.{{cite news |title=Private grief versus public good |date=20 April 1987 |page=8 |newspaper=The Irish Times |first=Padraig |last=Yeates }} This reflected the stigma then associated with the disease and with homosexuality in Ireland, which was not decriminalised until 1993.{{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}} 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.

In February 2022, RTÉ aired a new documentary about Hanley, titled Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes.{{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}}{{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}}