Back in Black
Celebrating the release of her Twenty-five Years – Twenty-five Songs compilation, Mary Black returns for three nights at Dublin's Olympia. She talks to Jackie Hayden about singing with Joan Baez, juggling music and motherhood and her ambitions and fears for her own children as they follow her into the shark-infested entertainment industry.
Jackie Hayden, 14 Jun 2010
There's a confident earthiness to Mary Black that's entirely disarming. One of Ireland's most acclaimed performers of the past 25 years, with a string of top-selling albums to her name, she has somehow managed to stay rooted in the real world.
“I've probably always been fairly disciplined,” she explains. “I love touring and playing. I also love to get back to [husband] Joe and the kids at the end of it all. In fact, there was one occasion when I was outside cleaning the windows and this car stopped and the driver looked at me in amazement. He then told me he'd been to a gig of mine at the Albert Hall in London two nights before – and now here I was in a pair of dirty jeans doing the domestic chores!”
Black emerged from the fertile soil of the Irish folk scene, enjoying spells with General Humbert and De Danann before her solo career. Unlike many fast-living folk artists, however, she has never fallen prey to the temptations of alcohol.
“I could party like the best of them and often did,” she says with a laugh, “but it would reach a point where I'd had enough and I'd get up and leave. I had no difficulty with that. It wasn't like I had to battle to tear myself away every time. Besides, if you're the singer fronting a band, you have a certain responsibility to those musicians, as well as the fans who've paid to see you. If you're under the influence, it can be far more obvious out front than if you're just one of the band and the others can cover for you.”
She isn't one for regrets. But she wouldn't have minded a little more international recognition. “I suppose I'd have loved to have been nominated for a Grammy. I've been on albums that have won Grammies. I would have loved one in my own right. Then again, I have to remember that when I started out singing in the mid-'70s, it was for the love of the music and the joy of singing. I never imagined I'd get such a rewarding career out of it. To have lived the kind of life I've had is a real privilege, awards or no awards.”
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