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Born 5 May 1956, Co.Galway, Eire. This acclaimed Irish singer's troubled upbringing manifested itself in an erratic career path, including stints as a model and a street-sweeper.
After moving to London in the mid-70s she married and began raising a family, before terminating the union and returning to Galway with her children. She began her singing career in 1984, working with Dutch producer Erik Visser (who became her long-term collaborator).
The following year she made an acclaimed appearance on the Late Late Show and recorded her first album, which showcased her powerful and bluesy jazz stylings and became an unexpected bestseller in her native Ireland. Despite her ongoing personal problems, Coughlan continued to reap praise for her recorded output on WEA Records. On Under The Influence she revived the 1948 Peggy Lee hit "Don't Smoke In Bed" and the Billie Holiday ballad "Good Morning Heartache", as well as Christy Moore's "Ride On".
In 1988, Coughlan made her acting debut in Neil Jordan's High Spirits, and released Ancient Rain. Her fourth album, Uncertain Pleasures, was recorded in England with producer Peter Glenister, former musical director for Terence Trent D'Arby.
It included new compositions by Mark Nevin (Fairground Attraction) and Bob Geldof as well as cover versions of the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper" and the Elvis Presley hit "Heartbreak Hotel".
Coughlan began straightening her personal life out in the mid-90s, and signed a new recording contract with Big Cat Records. The label issued an excellent live set and her US debut, After The Fall. In June 2000, Coughlan presented a series of multimedia shows in Dublin celebrating Billie Holiday, a singer whose life story has close parallels to Coughlan's own.
She embarks on the next phase of her career with an extraordinary new album. Entitled ‘The House of Ill Repute’ – its thirteen songs represent the end of a thirteen year relationship in Mary’s life. The album re-unites her with Erik Visser, whose previous work with Mary has inspired them both to career best performances on the albums ‘Tired And Emotional’ and ‘After The Fall’ albums. Seldom has there been a better matched maestro and muse; as the immaculate song selection, sympathetic arrangements and matchless performances on this record reflect.
The first single is the late Kirsty MacColl’s wry discourse on misadventure ‘Bad’, an early highlight of an album that runs the gamut of emotions like a long night of Reeperbahn madness. Flirtatious on ‘Love Is Extra’, salacious on ‘Pornography’, outrageous on ‘Tootsies’; Madame Coughlan knows the intimate details of all the visitors to The House of Ill Repute. And in the cold light of the morning, we find them adrift on the emotional tundra of ‘Antarctica’ or clinging to the barren (Celtic) rock of ‘The Whore Of Babylon’.
It’s often said that an artist’s best work is made under the most trying of personal circumstances. With the release of ‘The House of Ill Repute’; Mary Coughlan emerges from the catharsis of record making, waking up to a new day; confident in the knowledge that she has produced an album which will stand up as one of the very best of her stellar career to date.
