Margo (born Margaret Catherine O'Donnell; 6 February 1951) is an Irish singer. She rose to prominence during the 1960s in the Irish

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

scene and has had a long career since.

Background

Margo was brought up in the small village of Kincasslagh, in

The Rosses The Rosses (officially known by its Irish language name, ''Na Rosa''; in the genitive case ''Na Rosann'') is a traditional 'district' in the west of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern Provinces of Ireland, province in Ireland. The Rosses has ...

area of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. She grew up in a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family, with her parents Francis and Julia (née McGonagle) O'Donnell, and her siblings: John (the eldest), Kathleen, James; and the youngest

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

, who is also a singer. Her father died of a heart attack when she was seventeen.

Career

Margo started performing

at a young age in 1964 with a local

showband The Irish showband () was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically had seven to ten members, including a rhythm section and a brass section with various combinations o ...

, 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 over 1 million records, and performed with

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

and

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

. She presented several TV shows for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in the 1970s and has collected a number of awards during her career. 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 Elizabeth Jane Anderson (née Haaby; January 13, 1927 – October 31, 2011) was an American country music singer-songwriter who was one in a wave of new-generation female vocalists in the genre during the 1960s to write and record her own son ...

and

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016), was an American country singer who was considered one of the genre's first significant female artists. Her commercial success ran from the 1950s to the 1970s while also be ...

. She has recorded a number of songs written by Liz Anderson and also a number written by

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 Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had co ...

, 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 travelling Ireland acting as an ambassador to the county. She is a resident of

Castleblayney Castleblayney (; ) is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town had a population of 3,926 as of the 2022 census. Castleblayney is near the border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and lies on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and L ...

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

. 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 Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...

, County Donegal. In 2011, she released the single "The Missing Mary Boyle" to raise funds for a new search for the missing girl. In 2015, Margo wrote a memoir, ''Margo: Queen of Country & Irish: The Promise and the Dream'' that was published by The O'Brien Press.

Discography

Studio albums *''Margo and the Country Folk'' (1970) *''From Margo with Love'' (1971) *''Country Lovin (1972) *''At Home in Ireland'' (1974) *''The Girl from Donegal'' (1975) *''Yes! Mr. Peters'' (1976) *''A Toast to Claddagh'' (1977) *''A Toast from an Irish Colleen'' (1981) *''Ireland Must Be Heaven'' (1982) *''The Irish Songs I Love to Sing'' (1984) *''Margo Now'' (1987) *''A Trip Through Ireland'' (1989) *''Ireland on My Mind'' (1992) *''New Beginnings'' (1994) *''Old Friends of Mine'' (1995) *''Old Friends Share Old Memories'' (1996) *''The Highway of My Life: Shade of the Family Tree'' (1998) *''I'm Still Here'' (2002) *''Parcel of Dreams'' (2006) *''Stories in Song'' (2010) *''The World Through My Eyes'' (2012) *''The Promise and the Dream'' (2014)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margo 1951 births Living people Irish country singers Irish women country singers Musicians from County Donegal 20th-century Irish women singers 21st-century Irish women singers People from Castleblayney