Photograph by Michael Kelly
Mary Coughlan is a born survivor and a woman of extreme passion who is able to sing straight from the heart. Since releasing her debut album in 1985 on Mystery Records, Tired and Emotional, Mary has gone on to record some truly classic songs in her own indomitable and exciting manner.
This year sees Ms. Coughlan come to Liverpool as part of the Liverpool-Irish Festival 10th anniversary celebrations and Mary will be performing as part of this at St. George’s Hall on the 18th October and whilst resting at home after performing to packed out shows in Sweden, I was able to catch up with the Irish singing sensation ahead of the festival.
How much are you looking forward to performing at St. George’s Hall during the Liverpool-Irish Festival?
“Well I am looking forward to it very much. It’s been a very long time since I have been there, probably 10, 11 years or more. I think I was there with my son who’s 15. He was about four so yes 11 years. So it’s going to be really nice to be back in Liverpool.”
How does it feel to be part of the 10th anniversary celebrations?
“It’s a great honour. I have a lot of friends in Liverpool. I remember the first ever time I went to Liverpool in about 1986 or early ’87 and the local promoter took us on the whole Beatles trip, he took us everywhere and even took us on the ferry up the Mersey and we did the whole tour and then went on to play the Philharmonic Hall. I’ve played in lots and lots of places all over Liverpool so I really enjoy it and it is great to be back for the 10th anniversary.”
Your music has been compared to some of the absolute greats, for example Billie Holiday, how do you respond to that?
“The comparisons are…well I loved Billie Holiday from the first time I ever heard her since I was about 17, we don’t really sing about the same things but maybe from the same place in our hearts and that is perhaps the comparison that people are talking about mostly. The music I do, I suppose it’s a mixture of…well I hear a great song and I want to sing it you know. I have done a double album of Billie Holiday songs and I did a really big show in Dublin in 2000 and it ran for 11 weeks, it was very successful. It was a multi-media show you know with pictures and film of her life and I just sang all the songs, 26 songs every night, it was incredible. I made a double C.D. from that but my own albums are a mixture of jazzy bluesy sort of, very contemporary stuff, I like to talk about stuff that means something to me and what’s going on in life.”
There is some incredibly powerful stuff on your latest album, The Whole Affair-The Very Best of.
“There are some crackers on there (laughs), when I was looking back on the 25 years it was hard to choose from but I really had to pick the ones that people liked not just the ones that I liked and that was very difficult. I had to look at sales over the years and see what people download the most and try to be fair to myself and too my audience. It was great though, it was really nice and look back on it and say Jesus that was a great song (laughs).
I have just come back from a tour of Sweden, I flew in last night and people out there just shout out for all the hits, you know it’s great.”
Going back to the festival, what do you believe to be the ties that bind Liverpool to Ireland?
“Well I always thought that people went out of Ireland to London but there is of course a long tradition going to work and live in Liverpool you know. I think, for some reason I feel more connected to the people in the northern parts of England much more so than London. The last time I was in Liverpool I remember walking round and realising there was a lot of slavery went on in Liverpool, there was a lot of oppression that we feel ourselves, you know what I am saying? Perhaps there is a connection there. I love Liverpool people, they are great. I had two ladies working with me for years who were my backing singers and they were from Liverpool and it is always a good audience in Liverpool but I love Newcastle as well and Sheffield. I love those northern towns.”
You are considered one of the great Irish women’s rights speakers, how much would you say transpires through to any writing?
“Well I don’t write very much at all, I have a lot of people I know, dear friends who have written for me over the years. I am writing songs now, I had written one song on the previous album about child abuse, sexual abuse. I write about problems with drug addiction, alcoholism, the darker sides of life, heroin dealers; songs about Ireland being stuck in the backward years. Everybody thinks I write the songs because I invest so much of my own self and you can’t sing about things that you don’t believe in.
The festival runs from the 11th-21st October at various venues around Liverpool. Tickets for Mary’s show at St. George’s Hall are priced at £16.50. For more information on the festival, go online at www. liverpoolirishfestival.com or telephone 07804 286145.