Mary Black facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mary Black
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Black performing at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin in 2005
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| Background information | |
| Born | 23 May 1955 Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | Celtic, folk, country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Associated acts | Frances Black, The Black Family, De Dannan, The Coronas, Róisín O |
Mary Black (born on May 23, 1955) is a famous Irish folk singer. She is known for singing both old traditional folk songs and newer music. This has made her a very popular recording artist in her home country, Ireland.
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About Mary Black
Mary Black grew up in a musical family in Dublin, Ireland. She had four brothers and sisters. Her dad played the fiddle, and her mom was a singer. Her brothers, Shay and Michael Black, have their own music group called the Black Brothers. Her younger sister, Frances Black, also became a very successful singer in the 1990s.
Because of her family, Mary started singing traditional Irish songs when she was only eight years old. As she got older, she performed with her brothers in small clubs around Dublin.
Mary's Music Journey
Starting Out in the 1980s
In 1975, Mary joined a small folk band called General Humbert. She toured Europe with them and they released two albums. In 1982, she started working with musician and producer Declan Sinnott. She then recorded her first solo album, Mary Black. This album did very well in Ireland and quickly became a "gold" record. In 1983, it was even called one of the best Irish albums of the 1980s.
Mary also explored traditional Irish music by joining the band De Dannan. She toured with them in Europe and the US. The album she made with them, Anthem, won the Irish Album of the Year award. While with De Dannan, Mary also kept working on her solo music. She released albums like Collected (1984) and Without the Fanfare (1985). These albums showed a more modern side to her music. Because of her success, the IRMA named her Entertainer of the Year in 1986. She was also named Best Female Artist in 1987 and 1988.
Declan Sinnott was her producer and guitarist for many years. They worked together until 1995.
Mary left De Dannan in 1986. In 1987, her album By the Time it Gets Dark became a huge hit in Ireland. But her popularity really soared with her album, No Frontiers, released in 1989. It quickly went to the top of the Irish music charts. It stayed in the Top 30 for over a year and sold millions of copies. Mary became even more popular in the United States after touring there and getting a lot of radio play.
Success in the 1990s
After No Frontiers became popular in the US, Mary's song "Columbus" was played a lot on the radio. This made her a popular artist on "NAC" radio stations, which played adult contemporary music. In 1991, she went on a big American tour. Her 1991 album, Babes in the Wood, also went straight to No.1 in Ireland. It stayed there for six weeks. Her song "The Thorn Upon the Rose" reached No.8 on the Japanese singles chart. This happened after it was used in a TV advertisement for a railroad.
Babes in the Wood also did well in the US. A newspaper in the UK called Today named it one of the top 10 albums of the year. This album led to sold-out tours, including her first concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1992. This concert was even shown on TV a year later. Mary was again named Best Female Artist by the IRMA.
Mary was featured on the cover of Billboard magazine. The story said she was expected to become as famous internationally as other Irish artists like Enya and Sinéad O'Connor. Her next album, The Holy Ground, also reached the top of the Irish album chart. She toured the US in 1993 to support this album.
Mary then joined six other Irish female artists for a special album called A Woman's Heart. Her sister Frances Black was also on it, along with Eleanor McEvoy, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, and Maura O'Connell. This album sold so well that they made another one, A Woman's Heart 2.
In 1995, Mary recorded two songs with American folk singer Joan Baez. These songs were for Baez's album Ring Them Bells. Mary also released a "greatest hits" album called Looking Back. She toured in the US, Germany, and Scandinavia to promote it. Mary released three more albums in the 1990s: Circus, Shine, and Speaking with the Angel. She was named "Best Female Artist" again in 1994 and 1996.
2000s and Beyond
In 2003, Mary Black released her first live album, Mary Black Live. She also released her only studio album of the 2000s, Full Tide. While it was successful, she kept a lower profile in music for a few years.
In 2008, Mary released a special album called "Twenty Five Years – Twenty Five Songs". This album celebrated her long career in music. It included new versions of old songs and two brand new recordings. She also sang duets with other artists, like Christie Hennessy and Liam Clancy. In 2009, she was featured on a song on Steve Martin's album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. In 2011, she released a new album called Stories from the Steeples. She has even sung a duet live with the Irish pop band Westlife.
From 2014 to 2015, Mary went on a "Last Call" tour with her daughter Róisín O. This was announced as her final international tour, but she planned to keep singing after it. Her autobiography, a book about her life, called Down the Crooked Road, was published in October 2014.
In 2017, Mary released a new version of her 1987 album, "By The Time It Gets Dark". This was to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The new version had remixed songs, a new song called "Wounded Heart", and a rare old song. Later that year, Mary released another album called "Mary Black Sings Jimmy MacCarthy". This album had new and old songs written by Jimmy MacCarthy. Mary toured in 2018 to promote this new album.
Mary's Musical Style
For many years, What Hi-Fi? magazine thought Mary Black's voice was so clear and perfect that they used it as a test. They would play her music to compare the sound quality of different high-end music systems. A music writer named Michael Leahy once said that Mary Black's voice shows what many people think of as the best of Irish female singers. He said her voice is deep, a little magical, and always sounds good, no matter what music trends are happening. Today, Mary Black is highly respected in Ireland and around the world. She is seen as one of the most important Irish singers of her time.
Mary's Family Life
Mary is married to Joe O'Reilly, who started Dara Records in 1983. They have two sons, Conor and Danny, and a daughter, Róisín. Their son Danny is a member of the Irish rock band The Coronas. Their daughter Róisín performs music under the name Róisín O. Mary and Joe live in Dublin, but they also spend a lot of time in County Kerry.
Mary Black's Albums
Studio Albums
- Mary Black (1982)
- Collected (1984)
- Without the Fanfare (1985)
- By the Time It Gets Dark (1987)
- No Frontiers (1989)
- Babes in the Wood (1991)
- The Holy Ground (1993)
- Circus (1995)
- Shine (1997)
- Speaking with the Angel (1999)
- Full Tide (2005)
- Stories from the Steeples (deluxe edition contains 3 bonus tracks, 2011)
- By The Time It Gets Dark – 30th Anniversary Edition (fully remastered album containing a newly recorded song and bonus material, 2017)
Compilation Albums
- The Best of Mary Black (1990)
- The Collection (1992)
- Looking Back (1995)
- Song for Ireland [USA] (1998)
- The Best of Mary Black 1991-2001 & Hidden Harvest (2001)
- Twenty Five Years, Twenty Five Songs (compilation with new and re-recorded material, 2008)
- Down The Crooked Road – The Soundtrack (soundtrack accompanying Mary's autobiography of the same name, 2014)
- Mary Black Sings Jimmy MacCarthy (compilation including new and previously recorded material of Jimmy MacCarthy songs, 2017)
- Mary Black Orchestrated (2019)
See also
- Ruth Keggin, sings in Manx
- Julie Fowlis, sings in Scottish Gaelic
- Gwenno Saunders, sings in Welsh and Cornish
