"ITS TIME FOR MY VOICE TO TELL MY STORY"Colette Kavanagh grew up listening to Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and other music legends as her father played piano and her mother sang along...........Yeah, yeah, yeah I hear you say, so what... so here goes I've decided to write a bit more "openly" about myself, because after all you only get one chance at life and I've decided that this is my chance to tell my story, well so far anyway...My Dad is a great piano player and singer and my mother sings so beautifully but rarely shares her talent, of course only with the family... We used to huddle around the piano, my three sisters, myself and my brother, after Sunday dinner and my Dad would make up a competition to see who was the best singer/dancer etc. for the grand prize of 10p ! I think my Dad thought he was Captain Von Trapp from the Sound of Music (well that’s what he told us anyway) ha ha ....The school I attended was in the centre of Dublin, run by nuns who were great for singing and teaching harmonies. We did a lot of shows in Dublin’s finest theatres (Olympia, Gaiety) and also on RTE's Late Late Show singing and dancing our hearts out.Time passed and I grew up, like you do... and then the road I chose was to work in an office (legal secretary etc.) where I got caught up in the usual tasks of paying bills, mortgages, life .... I had always dreamed of performing again, getting back on the stage and so entered a couple of competitions (won some) and wrote bits of songs on my train ride to work on the back of train tickets etc... My dream was "if I could touch the heart of one person with my singing then I would be really happy"... Then I started singing with a traditional Irish group every Wednesday and people started to take notice ... of course I was absolutely over the moon... anywhere I went then after that I would sing ... at parties, funerals, weddings ... toilets, table tops ... ha ha ... get thrown out of pubs (only joking)... but I was back singing again and really happy !I saw an add one day in the paper looking for Irelands next Country Singer, so I said I'd give it a shot (what could I loose only my life !!!) ... I was so nervous in front of TV cameras but the guy that organised it said he saw something in me and organised that I tour with Johnny Cash's guitarist, Mr Bob Wootton. This all happened in 2005. I was nervous on that tour but after spending 10 days with Bob and listening to all the great stories about Johnny Cash and Bob's life together, he inspired me to go on and "discover my own voice"... so I decided that I would go for it and record my own songs ... so in the February of 2006 I received an award for "Best Local Talent" from Country & Irish Magazine and was a guest singer at several country music shows. I then started recording my own songs in Ashtown Studios in Dublin in 2006.There I met really great lads, very encouraging and really decent and of course talented. They are called "The Black Donnellys" formerly the Woods Band (Terry Woods) and I also worked with a well known guy here in Ireland, Dermot Lambert former lead singer with a Dublin band Blink .... now not Blink 182 but a very successful band Blink... Dermot had never produced an album before and I think that he did a great job on my album along with his longtime friend Dave Browne. The craic was great and I remember crying in the car on the way home from the studio thinking "I've done it, I've recorded my own songs" as I listened on the car stereo... God is good ... I then went on to do gigs with some well known guys (George Murphy and The Sullivan Bros. to promote my songs) ... and did acoustic sessions with a lovely guy (Johnny Dee) for a while .... I've met some lovely people, talked to interesting people and seen interesting things i.e. a really nice lady was so taken by us one nite that she had to get up to dance and in doing so bent over to show us her knickers !! You should have seen Johnny's face .... I'll never forget that nite .... what a classic …ha ha ....And so here I am on Myspace, and all I can say is I'm shocked (after all I just wanted to touch one heart) and I’m overwhelmed, sometimes to tears by what people say and their words of encouragement … it’s a very long road that I’ve chosen and sometimes I do feel like giving up but sure that’s life … but nothing has been better than meeting people from all around the world and it makes me feel so connected and knowing that we’re not alone and there is so much to learn from each other …. Its only a click away !I’m working on new songs and will be recording them soon… still discovering ways to keep myself entertained !!So there ye have it ... that’s a snippet of my life so far ... it might give you a little laugh and brighten up your day (well I hope)....
God bless and thanks for dropping by ...Slainte,Colette Ni Caomhanaigh (Kavanagh)
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