Margo (singer)

Margo (born Margeret Catherine O'Donnell; 6 February 1951) is an Irish singer. She rose to prominence during the 1960s in the Irish country music scene and has had an long career since.[1]

For other uses, see Margo (disambiguation).

Margo
Margo in concert.
Background information
Birth nameMargeret Catherine O'Donnell
Also known as"The Queen of Country and Irish"
Born (1951-02-06) 6 February 1951
County Donegal, Ireland
GenresCountry
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active1964–present
Associated actsDaniel O'Donnell, Philomena Begley
WebsiteOfficial website

Background

Margo was brought up in the small village of Kincasslagh, in The Rosses area of County Donegal, Ireland. She grew up in a Catholic family, with her parents Francis and Julia (née McGonagle) O'Donnell, and her siblings: John (the eldest), Kathleen, James; and the youngest Daniel, who is also a singer. Her father died of a heart attack when she was seventeen.

Career

Margo started performing country music at a young age in 1964 with a local showband, The Keynotes. She recorded her first single in 1968, "Bonny Irish Boy/Dear God", and followed this with a second single, "If I Could See the World Through the Eyes of a Child/Road By the River", released in 1969. In the next five decades, Margo sold more than 1,000,000 records, and performed with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. She presented several TV shows for RTÉ in the 1970s and has collected a number of awards during her career.[2] Her albums usually include covers of popular country music hits from the 1960s and 1970s. Her 2019 album "Old and New" contains original tribute songs to two of her greatest influences, Liz Anderson and Jean Shepard. She has recorded a number of songs written by Liz Anderson and also a number written by Dolly Parton and on her album Margo and Friends she duets with Parton on "God's Coloring Book".

Personal life

Margo is sister to Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell, who got his start with Margo's band in the early 1980s while attending college in Galway. Margo was named "2007 Donegal Person Of The Year" and spent most of 2007 traveling Ireland acting as an ambassador to the county. [3] She is a resident of Castleblayney, County Monaghan, where she has lived for several decades along with her partner.

Since 1977, she has been active in the search for Mary Boyle, a distant relative from Kincasslagh, who went missing at age six near Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In 2011, she released the single "The Missing Mary Boyle" to raise funds for a new search for the missing girl.[4][5]

In 2015, Margo wrote a memoir, Margo: Queen of Country & Irish: The Promise and the Dream that was published by The O'Brien Press.[6]

Discography

Albums
  • From Margo With Love (1971)
  • Country Lovin' (1972)
  • The Girl from Donegal (1975)
  • A Toast To Claddagh (1977)
  • ...At Home In Ireland (1979)
  • A Toast From An Irish Colleen (1981)
  • Grádh Mo Chroí (I Long To See Old Ireland Free Once More) (1982)
  • 18 Irish Songs (1982)
  • Now (1988)
  • The Girl From Donegal (2001)
  • The Girl & Boy Fom Donegal (with Daniel O'Donnell, 2002)
  • Parcel of Dreams (2006)
  • Two Sides of Margo (2006)
  • Highway of My Life (2006)
  • Songs of Inspiration (2009)
  • Ireland's Country Queens: The Way Old Friends Do (with Philomena Begley, 2009)
  • Stories in Song (2010)
  • Margo & Friends (2018)
  • Old and New (2019)

References
  1. Margo profile Archived 30 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, regorecords.com/margoodonnell; accessed 25 February 2014.
  2. Margo O'Donnell bio at official website; accessed 25 February 2014.
  3. Nicola Tallan article on Margo, The Times; 2 April 2006
  4. "Margo's song for missing girl". Irish Independent. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  5. "New search for missing Irish girl". BBC News. 10 January 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  6. O'Donnell, Margeret (2014). Margo: Queen of Country & Irish: The Promise and the Dream. The O'Brien Press, Limited. ISBN 9-781-84717674-5.
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