Mary O'Hara (born 12 May 1935) is an Irish
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
and harpist from
County Sligo
County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...
. She gained attention on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her recordings of that period influenced a generation of Irish female singers who credit O'Hara with influencing their style, among them
Carmel Quinn
Carmel Quinn (31 July 1925 – 6 March 2021) was an Irish-American entertainer who appeared on Broadway, television and radio after immigrating to the United States in 1954.
Biography
Quinn was born in July 1925 and educated in Dublin. Her fath ...
,
Mary Black
Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland.
Background
Mary Black was born into a m ...
, and
Moya Brennan. In his autobiography ''Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour'' (2002),
Liam Clancy
Liam Clancy ( ga, Liam Mac Fhlannchadha; 2 September 1935 – 4 December 2009) was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's ...
wrote how her music inspired and influenced him and others of the Folk Revival period.
Early life and career
Mary O'Hara is the daughter of Major John Charles O'Hara, an officer in the
British Corps of Royal Engineers, and his wife, Mai (née Kirwan). One of her sisters was actress
Joan O'Hara
Joan O'Hara (10 October 1930 – 23 July 2007) was an Irish stage, film and television actress. She was one of Ireland's most popular actresses and was, at her death, recognisable to television viewers as Eunice Dunstan, a gossip in ''Fair Cit ...
, and her nephew is playwright
Sebastian Barry.
O'Hara won her first competition,
Sligo
Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...
's annual Music and Drama singing competition, at the age of eight,
and made her first radio broadcast on
Radio Éireann
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...
before she left school at the age of 16.
She went on to perform at
Edinburgh International Fringe Festival
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
with the Dublin University Players,
BBC's ''Quite Contrary'' and ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'', before she starred in her own BBC television series. Her first recording contract was with
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
. Part of her extensive music career included spending a considerable amount of time on the
Aran Islands collecting folk music and acquiring fluent
Irish.
She was the subject of ''
This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to:
Television
* ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards
* ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...
'' in 1978 when she was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...
while filming at the
National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.
Personal life
She was introduced to American poet Richard Selig by Irish poet
Thomas Kinsella and she married Selig in 1956.
/ref> She moved to the United States with him. Selig died of Hodgkin's disease
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition wa ...
15 months after their marriage. O'Hara continued to tour and record for four years.
In 1962, she became a Benedictine nun
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, found ...
at Stanbrook Abbey
Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine women's monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England.
The community was founded in 1625 at Cambrai in Flanders (then part of the Spanish Netherlands, ...
in England, where she stayed for 12 years. Her wedding band was melted down and made into a ring to celebrate her profession of solemn vows as a member of the Benedictine Order in 1967.
O'Hara's initial rise to a high-profile was repeated in 1974 when she left the monastery for the sake of her health, found that her musical reputation had grown during her time in the cloister, and returned to performing. In a matter of months, she became one of the biggest international recording stars to come out of Ireland.
The title of her autobiography, ''The Scent of the Roses'', is taken from one of her favourite songs by Irish poet Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...
. Her other books include ''Celebration of Love'', and the coffee table book ''A Song for Ireland''.
She continued her singing career for a further 16 years, retiring from performing in 1994. In 1985, she remarried, to Pádraig O'Toole, who was instrumental in the development of her career from 1974. They spent six years in Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
where her husband taught at the Tanzania School of Journalism, at the University of Dar es Salaam. A musical play about her life, ''Harp on the Willow'' by John Misto
John Misto (born 13 October 1952) is an Australian playwright and screenwriter. He graduated with an Arts/Law degree from the University of New South Wales, and then practised as a lawyer before changing his career to concentrate on working as a ...
, was a great success in Australia in early 2007. Mary O'Hara completed five volumes of her harp accompaniments, and still travels, giving talks at locales such as the Yeats International Summer School, Sligo (2007), the O'Carolan Festival, Keadue, County Roscommon (2008), Northern Lights Harp Festival, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
(2009), New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
(2009), and Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
(2009). The Burns Library at Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
houses her papers, and held a "Mary O'Hara" exhibition ending 30 April 2010.
As of 2016, O'Hara resides on the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland. O'Toole died in 2015.
Influence in modern culture
O'Hara's recording of "Óró Mo Bháidín" is sampled in Passion Pit's 2008 single " Sleepyhead" and Sub Focus
Nicolaas Douwma (born 13 April 1982), better known by his stage name Sub Focus, is an English DJ, record producer, songwriter, musician and sound engineer from Guildford, Surrey. He has been releasing records since 2003. On 12 October 2009, ...
' song "Safe in Sound" from the album ''Torus
In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle.
If the axis of revolution does not tou ...
''. The melody is also used in Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling
"A Spaceman Came Travelling" is a song by Chris de Burgh. It first appeared on his second studio album, '' Spanish Train and Other Stories'', which was released in 1975. It has been released numerous times as a single, becoming a popular Chris ...
" as part of the chorus.
Discography
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohara, Mary
1935 births
Living people
Irish women singers
Irish harpists
Irish folk singers
Tradition Records artists
Decca Records artists
Musicians from County Sligo
Benedictine nuns
20th-century British Roman Catholic nuns
Former Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns
Chrysalis Records artists
Irish-language singers