Maggie Reilly

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1956, singer Maggie Reilly achieved her greatest fame through a prolonged association with the distinguished electronic composer Mike Oldfield. Her performing path opened in the early 1970s when she joined the local blues outfit Joe Cool. After the band adopted the name Cado Belle, its self-titled debut album appeared in 1976. An EP arrived the next year, yet Cado Belle disbanded soon afterward, prompting Reilly to undertake session work before she aligned with the trio Riotous Assembly. Oldfield and Reilly first crossed paths in 1979; the following year she supplied vocals for his album QE2. Three additional joint projects—Five Miles Out, Crises, and Discovery—preceded her own 1984 solo debut, a version of the classic “As Tears Go By.” Reilly devoted the remainder of the decade chiefly to raising her family and appeared on record only occasionally, among those moments a 1989 reunion with Oldfield on Earth Moving. Her first solo album, Echoes, surfaced in 1992 and was followed a year later by Midnight Sun. Elena appeared in 1996.