Clodagh Rodgers

Irish pop diva Clodagh Rodgers entered the world on March 5, 1947, in Ballymena, Ulster, launching her professional career at thirteen by serving as opening act for British singing star Michael Holliday. Her father, a dancehall tour promoter, guided her early steps, securing a contract with Decca in 1962; under the adjusted billing “Cloda Rogers,” her first single, “Believe Me, I’m No Fool,” achieved modest U.K. success. That release earned her a spot in the 1963 film Just for Fun, while her follow-up, “Powder Your Face With Sunshine,” represented her in the European Song Cup the same year. Another cinematic appearance followed in 1964’s It’s All Over Town before she moved to Columbia and issued “Wanting You” in 1965, her final recording for four years. Re-emerging on RCA in 1969, she vaulted into the British Top Five with the comeback single “Come Back and Shake Me.” A self-titled album arrived soon afterward, and its successor, Midnight Clodagh, delivered two further hits, “Goodnight Midnight” and “Biljo.” The 1971 set Rodgers and Heart produced another pair of favorably received tracks, “Wolf” and “Everybody Go Home.” That same year she submitted her most enduring recording, “Jack in the Box,” to the Eurovision Song Contest; although it did not triumph, the song became a major hit regardless. When the lighter “Lady Love Bug” drew limited commercial response, she shifted toward a more mature, sophisticated pop approach on the aptly named 1972 album It’s Different Now. Its follow-up, You Are My Music, introduced a clear country flavor the next year yet failed to attract listeners, prompting her departure from RCA. She subsequently concentrated on cabaret engagements, pausing for a six-month residency at the London Palladium in a production of Cinderella. Signing with Polydor, she released Save Me in 1977, reclaiming radio airplay through the title track; “Love Is Deep Inside of Me” appeared the following year, while two further singles for Precision in 1980—“I Can’t Afford That Feeling Anymore” and “Person to Person”—marked the close of her recording activity. Thereafter Rodgers focused chiefly on stage roles, appearing in the West End productions of Pump Boys and Dinettes and Blood Brothers.