Born to be on stage
The Nolans were on stage by the time they could walk and talk. Born into a family of six girls and two boys, their Dubliner parents Tommy and Maureen were entertainers. But it was the family’s move to Blackpool that was to eventually lead to TV and musical fame, with The Nolans becoming one of the world’s most successful girl bands. In the 1970s the sisters appeared on almost every UK TV show with regular slots on Sir Cliff Richard’s It’s Cliff, as well as on Vince Hill’s Musical Time Machine and The
Two Ronnies. The girls knew they’d hit the big time when in 1975 they were asked to join Frank Sinatra on his European tour.
But it was their single, I’m In The Mood For Dancing, that brought them global success. A farewell tour was planned for 2011 but it had to be cancelled when it was discovered Bernie’s cancer was terminal. The cruise gig is the first in over a decade for Maureen, Coleen and Linda, and even longer for Anne. And Maureen doubted it would ever materialise. She tells P.S: “I was touring in a show when one of my agents phoned up very excited. I was thinking we’d never get it together. But over the months, producers Koska with Discovery and Quest Red did get it together.”