Mary Duff

Irish country-folk singer Mary Duff gained her widest recognition through a long-running partnership with easy-listening favorite Daniel O'Donnell, yet she has also built an extensive body of solo work. Born in Lobinstown, County Meath, she began singing publicly at twelve alongside her accordionist father’s local ensemble. Once she finished school she balanced secretarial duties with fronting the rock-and-roll covers group Jukebox. After claiming victory in a Sunday World newspaper talent contest she met manager Sean Reilly, who signed her as a solo artist and booked her as opening act for Daniel O’Donnell’s forthcoming British tour—an engagement she has maintained for more than two decades. Her first album, Love Someone Like Me, appeared in 1988; since then she has issued fourteen studio albums, among them the 2010 orchestral set Voice of an Angel recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a concert disc captured at East Kirkby Aviation Centre. Her sole solo U.K. chart entry was the 2005 compilation Ultimate Collection, though two joint releases with O’Donnell—1996’s Timeless and 2007’s Together Again—both reached the Top 20. Their 2005 live broadcast from Branson’s Tri-Lakes Theater attracted sixty million viewers and propelled her album Time After Time to number two on Billboard’s World Music Chart.