Sharon Shannon, Frances Black and Mary Coughlan are some of the most successful female artists Ireland has to offer and are no strangers to each other, having performed and recorded together as an integral part of the successful Woman’s Heart albums and tours. The three artists will play a set each with their own musicians, performing many of their greatest hits before joining each other on stage together at Cork Opera House to complete the night.
Sharon Shannon received worldwide recognition with the song ‘Galway Girl’ from the Hilary Swank movie, PS I Love You. Traditional Irish music is Sharon’s background, but she has been fearless in her musical exploration, having defied genres and woven her unique style through country, French-Canadian reggae, hip-hop, dance and classical. When Nanci Griffith called Frances Black “the sweetest voice of Ireland,” she was paying tribute to someone who has been one of Ireland’s best-loved and most enduring artists since the late 80s, with a string of best-selling albums, awards and other accolades behind her. The extent of Frances’ popularity and talent has been reflected in the awards and accolades that she has received for her albums and live performances.
Mary Coughlan is the only singer these shores have produced to rival the greatest of European cabaret and American jazz club blues because of one thing: her voice. She is unique in blending the whisky-blurred, smoke-seared, husky notes and laconic wit of Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee and the line of deep, down and dirty blues singers back to Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith with the sardonic, bitter-sweet defiance and despair of the Piaf chanteuse, born out of war, in the shadow of Brecht, at war with the world, men, and finally, herself.
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