A look back through twenty years at the Career of the popular Irish artist Mary Black .

For the past two decades Mary Black has been a beating pulse for Irish songwriters and their music .
With ten platinum solo albums to her long list of credits Mary Black is one of Irelands greatest recording stars .

Well loved and respected Mary Black has been responsible for giving new life to old songs and promoting new material on a world stage as well as in her native Irish home .

From her early childhood Mary sang gathered around the piano with all of her family . The love for singing soon brought a fine edge to her voice that in the end cut her out a professional singing career.
Her first self titled solo album was in 1983 and that went straight to number 4 in the Irish Charts and won her the Irish Independent Arts Award for music .

This first award that heralded the arrival of Mary Black would only be the first of many awards that Mary has received as a female artist in the Irish music scene .

After a successful vocal career working in the band De Dannan Mary’ s second solo album entitled Without The Fanfare was released in 1985 .
It was at this point in her career that Mary Black discovered some of the finest modern day contemporary song writers in Ireland and she was able to provide a vehicle for their material . Her ability to interpret other peoples songs and translate that to a live audience was one of her greatest talents . With the backing of some of Irelands finest musicians she was able to convert concert after concert into huge record sales .
Mary’s angelic voice soared out into the market place and made its way to the ears of those who listened and then touched the hearts and minds of her growing fans .
It was no surprise to see songwriters queue up for the chance of getting a song on a Mary Black album . Being include on her album meant having success in the business .

In 1986 Mary received the best female artist award with the National
Entertainment group and in 1987 a new album was released by Mary entitled
“By The Time It Gets Dark” .This album was a collection of works that showcased the talents of new Irish songwriters like Jimmy Mc Carthy ,Noel Brazil ,Sandy Denny ,and Richard Thompson .

Mary received the best female artist award in 1987, and 1988 .

In 1989 Mary launched the “No Frontiers” album which became one of Irelands best selling albums and established her in Japan and , Europe and America .

In 1991 ”Babes In The Wood” was released and went straight to number 1.

Mary black was hot property now and her sell out shows at the Royal Albert Hall won her accolades with the British press . On her first UK tour Mary Black stamped herself as a class act with a capital C in the reviews that appeared in The Guardian ,The Times and The Telegraph .

In 1992 Mary again won the best female artist award and in 1993 she received the best Irish Solo artist award .
The same year Mary was given the National Entertainment personality of the year award .

1993 was when the “Holy Ground” album was released and it went platinum the very same day .

In 1994 Mary received the Belfast Telegraph EMA Best Irish Solo artist award and again was awarded the best female artist award and that same year she won the award for the best Irish album with ,” Holy Ground “

In 1995 when “The Circus” album was released, it went straight in at number 1 on the Irish music charts . It climbed to number 16 on the British Music Charts and international record companies began to sit up and take notice of Mark Black . Various recording stars and big names like Van Morrison , Joan Baez , Joni Mitchell , Emy Lou Harris , Chaka Khan , and Tina Turner wanted to work with Mary . Respect had come in a major way .

Towards the end of the 20th century
TV programmes and documentaries about Irish music and the influence of Irish music saw Mary Black play a role .

Mary Black toured the world extensively and brought with her a huge clump of the Holy Ground .
She planted both feet on the world stage and had become recognised as a huge force not only with the Irish music industry but also in the contemporary music scene .

In 1997 Mary took a great step forward when she was working on the “Shine” album . For the first time she had recorded without her long time producer Declan Sinnott . This was a brave move by Mary and was taken as a gamble into cracking the American music industry . The “Shine” album was recorded in Los Angeles with her new producer Larry Klein .
This album seemed to have a different feel about it . The songs and had new direction and the production introduced Mary in a new light that shone out like a beacon a new market place .

When “Speaking With The Angel” was released it gave Mary Black a further success on a new recording path in a new century .

In the new millennium Mary Black emerged on the scene with an double album that was called The best of Mary Black 1991-2001 .
There was a special collection of songs on this album called Hidden Harvest . Live tracks on this album are accompanied by studio recording tracks and the entire collection has a trademark of quality about it .

The tracks on the album feature some of the worlds great song writing talents and they also highlight Mary’s Black’s career so far with tracks like Once In A very Blue Moon from the album “By The Time It Gets Dark” .
Still Believing from the album “Babes In The Wood”.
The Loving Time from the album “ The Holy Ground “.
”I Will Be There from the “Shine album .
”Don’t Say OK” from the album “ Speaking With The Angel”
and the title tracks from the albums “Without The Fanfare “and The Circus .
This album is a journey in song through the history of Mary Black as an Irish artidt and again provides the world today the opportunity to appreciate the works of modern day Irish songwriters as well as some other global superstar songwriters well have been etched well into this laser guided gem of an album .
Appearing on this album are songs written by Lennon and Mc Cartney ,
Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Mc Carthy, Noel Brazil ,Shane Howard, and Paul Brady, and many more .

Looking back at Mary’s career over the past twenty years one could never measure the wealth of the songs she has sung , no one could count how many careers she has helped , maybe in a time to come when the seasons are no more and if ever this world should stop turning its then I’m sure we would hear once again that angelic voice of Mary Black still singing , “Turn Turn Turn “


THE END

By Paul McCann