Music with Eddie Rowley

SHE’S one of our national treasures, a much-loved entertainer whose earthy voice and soulful personality has captivated her fans for half a century.

Margo, the queen of country and Irish music, was so popular at the height of her career that riot police on horses had to be drafted in to control the crowd outside one of her London shows.

Set to perform in concert at the INEC, Killarney, on October 28, Margo first started singing professionally while still a schoolgirl, aged just 13.

A group called The Keynotes spotted her talent when they saw her on stage in her local hall at Kincasslagh, Co Donegal.

They approached her late mother, Julia, a passionate music fan, who agreed to allow Margo join the band.

“I was delighted, of course, and mother would come with me to the dances,” she says today.

Her father, Francie, who was away working in Scotland at the time, sent Margo the words of a song called ‘Bonny Irish Boy’.

This would become her first recording, along with a track called ‘Dear God’.

Sadly, however, her beloved father never got to hear the recording. He died suddenly at the age of 49, just before it was released.

Margo would go on to have a number one hit with ‘I’ ll Forgive And I’ ll Try To Forget’ and become one of Ireland’s biggest attractions, playing to thousands of fans in ballrooms every night of the week.

In the 60s and 70s, Margo was hugely popular with Irish people who had been forced to emigrate to Britain and America in search of work.

“I remember singing songs like ‘Destination Donegal’ and ‘Any Tipperary Town’ in the States and seeing people crying in front of the stage because those songs brought back memories of home,” she adds.