Mary Black's distinguished career has spanned over 25 years from her
early days in Dublin folk clubs through ever-escalating success with
seven platinum solo albums one of which - No Frontiers - spent fifty-six
weeks in the Irish Top 30. Needless to say Mary Black is a seminal figure
in Irish musical history and one of the artists responsible for it's
relatively recent blossoming on a global level.
Mary released her first eponymous solo album in 1983. It reached No.4 in the Irish Charts and is ranked among the best Irish albums of the early 1980's. It won for her the Irish Independent Arts Award for Music, the first in a staggering list of Music Awards that have continued to the present day.
After a successful period working with traditional band "De Dannan", she reunited with producer/guitarist Declan Sinnott to record her second solo album " Without the Fanfare" in 1985. This established what has become a Mary Black trademark - her ability to discover some of Ireland's finest contemporary song-writing talent and through her remarkable voice project the songs onto a world stage. The San Francisco Chronicle later called her "One of the best interpretative singers around".
"By The Time It Get's Dark" in 1987 saw Mary extending her repertoire, adding songs by the likes of Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny to the wealth of Irish song writing talent. Yet to all of the material Mary Black brought her own unique Irish combination of the ethereal and the earthy. The Telegraph described her voice as "Serene and achingly beautiful".
"No Frontiers" followed and proved to be one of Ireland's best selling albums of 1989. It also established Mary in new markets in Europe the US and Japan. "Babes in the Wood" in 1991 went straight to No.1 in the Irish charts and led to two sell-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall. Touring the UK for the first time Mary received superlative reviews from The Guardian, The Times and The Telegraph.
"The Holy Ground" in 1993 went platinum on the day of its release. Subsequently Mary played 5 sell-out shows at the Point Theatre in Dublin to an audience of 20,000 in one week. "Circus" in 1995 went straight to No.16 in the British charts, becoming her biggest selling UK album to date.
Perhaps more gratifying than the habitual awards and recognition bestowed on her is the respect and admiration of fellow artists. Mary has recorded and performed live with Emmy Lou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joan Baez and Van Morrison.
Her '97 release, "Shine", saw Mary taking something of a new direction. She asked renowned American producer Larry Klien to produce the album. Recorded in Los Angeles in late 1996, many have judged it one of her finest works.
"Speaking with
the Angel" is Mary's latest studio album. On this she continues to
bring some of Ireland's best songwriters into the spotlight, once again
interpreting the songs of her personal favorites such as Shane Howard,
Noel Brazil and Steve Cooney.
Summing up its review of this album Ireland's leading music magazine,
Hot Press, says: "If it is a benchmark in excellence that you seek,
a life-affirming statement, then this is the album for you . Staggering
stuff".
In October 2001 Mary Black released a mammoth 16-song collection, drawn
from the last decade of her career. Included on this "Best of "
album are two
new recordings and Mary also offers us a bonus CD, a mix of live tracks,
duets and studio recordings not previously available on any of her albums.
"Still Believing" is a documentary filmed in 2002 celebrating Mary's life in music. In this film Mary tells her story and takes us from her birthplace in Dublin's inner city on a musical journey through her career. The documentary is followed by a live recording of Mary and the Band filmed on the final night of a week long run at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin - one of Mary's favourite venues. Both the documentary and the live recording at the Olympia make up MARY BLACK LIVE the DVD which is accompanied by a live audio CD recorded at various venues around the world.
In Feb of this year
Mary and her band started work in West Kerry recording new material -
songs from, Noel Brazil, Sandy Denny, Bob Dylan, Shane Howard and Mary
herself. The fruits of their labour, a brand new album entitled "Full
Tide", is due for release on October 28th. It is Mary's first studio
album in 6 years.
All information, photographs and soundbites used by kind permission.
Copyright 2006