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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBLACK, Mary(b 23 May '55, Dublin) Folk-rock singer in a soft-focus style who seemed to be leaving the middle of the road for the high road in the mid-'90s. A member of Irish musical family the Blacks, she sang in folk clubs; her first album Mary Black '83 on Dara was a top five in Ireland; she joined group De Dannen and made albums Song For Ireland and Anthem with them, left '86; also contributed to the family's Family Favourites '84 and Time For Touching Home '89. She worked with prod. Declan Sinnott on her own Without The Fanfare '86, which was a step away from the folk clubs, incl. contemporary songs; No Frontiers '89 made the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in the USA and was also a hit in Japan. She sang with Emmylou Harris and others in TV series Bringing It All Back Home (recorded in Nashville; album Looking Back with Harris was on Warner Curb in USA). Further albums were By The Time It Gets Dark '87, No Frontiers '89, Babes In The Wood '91 and The Holy Ground '93, and there were also compilations; they were all big hits in Ireland, available on CD on Grapevine UK and some on Gifthorse USA. Despite her skill with all kinds of material she was beginning to be typed as an MOR artist when she replaced Sinnott with Larry Klein, Joni Mitchell's husband and producer, for Shine '97. After a London gig in April, Nigel Williamson wrote in The Times that 'what Klein has skilfully coaxed out of Black is a willingness to attack a song instead of merely stroking it', and thought that her older stuff suffered by comparison. The gig incl. a duet on 'I Will Be There' with its author Paul Brady, and Black played a bodhr n on stage (the Irish folk drum): she will not forsake her roots, yet having reached that stage in her career in which many artists settle for comfort, she was reaching for a new challenge. Like Harris, Suzanne Vega and Nanci Griffith with their recent albums, she will lose some old fans and gain new ones. |