Margo | |
|---|---|
 Margo in concert. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Margaret Catherine O'Donnell |
| Also known as | "The Queen of Country and Irish" |
| Born | (1951-02-06)6 February 1951 (age 74) County Donegal, Ireland |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Website | Official website |
Margo (bornMargaret Catherine O'Donnell; 6 February 1951) is anIrish singer. She rose to prominence during the 1960s in the Irishcountry music scene and has had a long career since.[1]
Margo was brought up in the small village ofKincasslagh, inThe Rosses area ofCounty Donegal,Ireland. She grew up in aCatholic family, with her parents Francis and Julia (née McGonagle) O'Donnell, and her siblings: John (the eldest), Kathleen, James; and the youngestDaniel, who is also a singer. Her father died of a heart attack when she was seventeen.
Margo started performingcountry music at a young age in 1964 with a localshowband, 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,[citation needed] and performed withJohnny Cash,Loretta Lynn andDolly Parton. She presented several TV shows forRTÉ in the 1970s and has collected a number of awards during her career.[2] Her albums usually include covers of popular country music hits from the 1960s and 1970s.[citation needed] Her 2019 album "Old and New" contains original tribute songs to two of her greatest influences,Liz Anderson andJean Shepard.[citation needed] She has recorded a number of songs written by Liz Anderson and also a number written byDolly Parton and on her albumMargo and Friends she duets with Parton on "God's Coloring Book".[citation needed]
Margo is sister to Irish singerDaniel O'Donnell, 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.[citation needed][3] She is a resident ofCastleblayney,County Monaghan.[citation needed]
Since 1977, she has been active in thesearch for Mary Boyle, a distant relative from Kincasslagh, who went missing at age six nearBallyshannon, County Donegal. In 2011, she released the single "The Missing Mary Boyle" to raise funds for a new search for the missing girl.[4][5]
In 2015, Margo wrote a memoir,Margo: Queen of Country & Irish: The Promise and the Dream that was published byThe O'Brien Press.[6]
Studio albums
