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 of Ireland.
Contents
Early Life and Family Music
Mary Black grew up in a musical family in Dublin, Ireland. Her father played the fiddle, and her mother was a singer. Mary has four siblings. 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.
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 Black'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 worked with musician and producer Declan Sinnott. She then recorded her first solo album, Mary Black. This album did very well on the Irish music charts and sold a lot of copies. It is still seen as one of the best Irish albums from the 1980s.
Mary also explored traditional Irish music with the band De Dannan. She toured with them in Europe and the United States. The album she recorded with them, Anthem, won the Irish Album of the Year award. While with De Dannan, Mary also continued her solo career. She released albums like Collected (1984) and Without the Fanfare (1985). These albums showed her moving towards a more modern music style. Because of her success, she was named Entertainer of the Year in 1986. She also won Best Female Artist in 1987 and 1988.
Declan Sinnott was her producer and guitarist for much of her early solo career. They worked together until 1995.
Mary left De Dannan in 1986. In 1987, her album By the Time it Gets Dark sold many copies in Ireland. Her popularity grew even more with her album, No Frontiers, released in August 1989. It quickly became number one on the Irish album charts. It stayed in the Top 30 for over a year and sold a huge number of copies. Mary became more popular in the United States too, thanks to tours and radio play.
Success in the 1990s
After No Frontiers became popular in the United States, Mary Black became a well-known artist there. In 1991, she went on an American tour. Her 1991 album, Babes in the Wood, also reached No.1 on the Irish charts and 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. It was chosen as one of the top 10 albums of the year in the United Kingdom.
The album led to a sold-out tour. Mary had her first concert at the Royal Albert Hall in January 1992. This concert was shown on TV a year later. She was again named Best Female Artist.
Mary was featured on the cover of Billboard magazine. The story said she was likely to become as famous 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 late 1993 to support this album.
Mary then worked with six other Irish female artists. They recorded a collection of songs called A Woman's Heart. Her sister Frances Black was also on this album, along with Eleanor McEvoy, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, and Maura O'Connell. This album sold very well, leading to another album, 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. A collection of Mary's greatest hits, Looking Back, was released. She toured in the US, Germany, and Scandinavia to support it. Mary released three more albums in the 1990s: Circus, Shine, and Speaking with the Angel. She was named "Best Female Artist" for the fourth and fifth times 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. Even though it was successful, she kept a lower musical profile for a few years.
In 2008, Mary released a collection of songs called "Twenty Five Years – Twenty Five Songs". This album celebrated her long career in music. It included new versions of some songs, fully updated songs, and two brand new recordings. In 2008, she sang a duet on Christie Hennessy's album "The Two of Us". She also appeared on Liam Clancy's album "The Wheels of Life". In 2009, she was featured on a song from 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 also 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 planned as Mary's final international tour, but she still intended to keep singing after it. Her life story, 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 updated album had new versions of the songs, a brand new song called "Wounded Heart", and a rare extra song. Later in 2017, Mary released a new collection of songs called "Mary Black Sings Jimmy MacCarthy". It included new songs and old ones by Jimmy MacCarthy. Mary toured in 2018 to promote this new album.
Mary Black's Singing Style
For many years, What Hi-Fi? magazine used Mary Black's voice as a way to test sound systems. They thought her voice was so clear and pure. 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. She is seen as deep, a bit magical, and not affected by changing music trends. Today, Mary Black is highly respected in Ireland and around the world. She is considered 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. The family lives in Dublin but also spends 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 (2011)
- By The Time It Gets Dark – 30th Anniversary Edition (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 (2008)
- Down The Crooked Road – The Soundtrack (2014)
- Mary Black Sings Jimmy MacCarthy (2017)
- Mary Black Orchestrated (2019)
