RÓISÍN O has revealed how people still “lose their sh*t” when they bump into her iconic mum Mary Black – including Vogue Williams who went weak at the knees for her hero.
The singer-songwriter enjoyed a more unusual upbringing than most, under the watchful eye of the No Frontiers vocalist who has for decades been one of Ireland’s superstars.
Róisín O lifted the lid on life as the daughter of a famous mum[/caption]
Singer Mary Black boasts a legendary decades-long career[/caption]
The Irish Sun’s new podcast is available now[/caption]
The sensational response to Mary’s Electric Picnic performance with her son Danny and daughter Róisín in 2022 confirmed her legend is here to stay, and Vogue also could not hide her enthusiasm on the day.
Dubliner Róisín, 37, told the Irish Sun: “I was playing keys with the Coronas and they were on the main stage at Electric Picnic.
“Backstage there was this massive long marquee tent for all the dressing rooms and across from us was My Therapist Ghosted Me’s Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams.
“I’m such a huge fan of the podcast. “I was like, Oh my God, the girls are across the hall’. So excited.
Listen to Fields Of Dreams on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts from July 3
“And Vogue came over, she’s so lovely.
“It was like my first time meeting her and she’d come in to say hello to the lads.
“Like, she obviously saw the Coronas on the door.
“And then she saw my mam, she was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God, holy sh*t. I’m sorry, I have to go get my sister’.
“Like, ran out of the room and brought her sister back and the two of them just absolutely fangirling over my mam.
“They didn’t even say hello to the lads. It was the funniest thing ever.
‘HUGE FANS’
“They’re actually huge fans. They really love my mam.
“And Vogue and my mam and dad ended up hanging out the whole night, it was so funny.”
She went on: “And then obviously when mam came on stage that night at Electric Picnic the crowd just lost their minds.
“I’ve felt a lot of women and men, but particularly my age now, in their mid-to-late 30s, who grew up listening to Mary Black in the back of the car, on the CD player, whole albums that they know off by heart.
“And when they were kids it was uncool.
“But now they’re in their 30s and they’re like, ‘I love Mary Black’. So yeah, I’m waiting for her to play her own set at the main stage at Electric Picnic.”
LIFE ON TOUR
Róisín is the voice of the Irish Sun’s new podcast, Fields Of Dreams, the story of how Ireland’s music scene changed beyond all recognition from the grim 1970s.
It is the ten-episode story of the musicians’ astonishing successes and failures as the country opened up to become a live-entertainment powerhouse.
Róisín is no stranger to being taken from festival to festival by her ma, who performed at Feile in Thurles in 1990 and 1993 while at the peak of her No Frontiers/A Woman’s Heart fame.
So much so that as a kid, it became run of the mill.
‘CRAZY STUFF’
Róisín said: “Being on tour with my mum, a lot of the time we’d be on a tour bus.
“And they’d all go in for soundcheck and I’d get to stay on the bus and watch all the VCR tapes.
“Like of old movies and all, that I just absolutely loved doing that. And I think coming from Ireland, seeing mam’s reaction then.
“She was doing crazy stuff like Five Nights At The Point back then. I don’t think I realised at the time how amazing that was.
‘BEST THING EVER’
“She has the most crazy stories of being at festivals with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison in the trailer next to her, which is just mind blowing.”
Mary, 70, has opened up about the difficulties of touring while she had three young children at home — Conor (the only member of the family with a “normal” job), Corona’s star Danny, now 40, and Róisín.
She had a three week rule, but it was long enough to put her youngest out.
“And Vogue and my mam and dad ended up hanging out the whole night, it was so funny.”
Róisín O
Róisín explained: “I was on the phone like, ‘Conor did this to me, you have to come home’.
“So she came home like a week early. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s the best thing ever’.
“But then she had to go again for another two weeks.
“And I was so devastated at the end of the week like, ‘You’re going back? I thought you were home?’
“Those parts were hard. But then she took me everywhere with her, like when she was on that LA trip recording her album Shine, I went over and lived in this massive house with her.
MAGICAL CHILDHOOD
“It had a pool and we went to Disney and all these amazing, amazing trips.
“I was all over the world as a kid with her, which was really magical.
“But yeah, the pros and cons to it, we definitely missed her.”
As the siblings grew older, their mother’s fame was a bit mortifying.
Róisín said: “When I was really young, say if we were on holiday together, I would go up to people and be like, ‘Do you know who my mum is? Sorry, I know I just met you, but do you know who my mum is?’
“And that stopped abruptly, I’d say about ten or 11 to the point where I would lie. (If I was asked) what does your mum do, I’d reply ‘Nothing. Just a stay-at-home mum’.
“And then I got into my 20s and I sort of became a mix of the two.”
SOLO CAREER
Róisín has her own solo career as well as performing with the Coronas, and has mixed emotions about being in Mary Black’s shadow.
She said: “Sometimes it’s hard. Obviously, Danny is the same.
“We want people to come to hear our music and it’s hard when people are like, ‘I’m not going to listen to that, that’s Mary Black’s daughter’. So they just judge it before they hear it.
“But at the same time, I definitely have fans who heard I was Mary Black’s daughter and were like, ‘I’m going to go listen to her’.
LABOUR OF LOVE
MUM-to-be Róisín O is going up against Robbie Williams in a bid to put on one last performance before her baby is due.
The Heart and Bones singer goes head to head with the former Take That man when he plays Croke Park on August 23, while she’s on stage at Whelan’s on the same day.
But with her baby on the way in October, she said: “I wouldn’t usually do a gig in the summer.
“But I’m pregnant so I need to get this gig in before this baby arrives, before I can’t move around on stage anymore.
“So Whelan’s will be the only gig you’ll see me at with ‘Bump’ on stage.
“So it will definitely be a night to remember. I’m really looking forward to it.
“I was thinking about not gigging and that was driving me crazy. I really want to get some shows in before baby arrives.”
But there won’t be any major break for the star who plans to be back in action for the Christmas period.
She said: “December is the busiest for musicians. I have a load of shows that I could miss but I don’t want to. It’s the best time of year for gigging.
“I’ll probably take about ten weeks off before I get back to work.”
“So for me, it doesn’t really matter why people have started to listen as long as they like it then I’ve won them over in my own merit.
“I don’t really don’t care. I’m so proud of her as well. She does have this unbelievable career.”
And as for working with her brother’s band?
‘I LOVE IT’
Róisín said: “I love it. I’m there as a session musician. I do backing vocals and I play keys.
“I know all the boys. I’ve grown up with them. We have the best craic on tour. It’s really not work.
“It’s dangerous how much I love it because in a way it stops me from sometimes doing my own gigs but it’s worth it.”
- The first two episodes of Fields Of Dreams are available wherever you get your podcasts from July 3
Mary’s kids Danny and Roisin have followed in her musical footsteps[/caption]
Roisin said podcaster Vogue Williams is a huge fan of her mum Mary[/caption]
