From Derry Feis to Celtic Woman - Mairéad Carlin

In the footlights this week is Grammy nominated, Celtic Woman, Mairéad Carlin, who is releasing her single ‘Orphan Girl’ tomorrow.

Hailing from Culmore on the outskirts of Derry, Mairéad’s dad was Hugo Carlin of The Trend Showband fame, which meant she grew up with music all around her. 

Laughing, Mairéad recalled: “Daddy loved The Byrds, The Beatles and Fairport Convention. There was always music going on in the house. All his friends were musicians as well, so it was a really musical house.”

Mairéad’s family background is absolutely fascinating. “For me now as an adult looking back, I had such an interesting childhood,” she said.

Mairéad’s granda Thomas (Tommy) Carlin fought in WWII. “He died when I was eight and he was 91,” she said. “He was a lovely man.”

The family matriarch, Mairéad’s granny, her mum Marie’s mum, Margaret McCartney, was also very musical. 

“Granny is a beautiful singer,” said Mairéad. “She has the most beautiful mezzo voice, a big, big voice. Back in the day, she sang in the Colmcille Ladies Choir.”

Mairéad credited Declan Carlin [no relation] whose sister Sheila Carlin is the musical director of the Colmcille Ladies Choir, with nurturing her musical career.

“When I was at St Patrick’s Primary School in Pennyburn, Declan used to do all of the school shows. He took me under his wing and helped me build my stage presence and musicality. He was always really kind. 

“I had my first singing lesson when I was four. I started at the McGinley School of Music and then I moved on to Una O’Somachain when I was 11 or 12. Una is just a gem. I owe so much of what I have to her and Ciaran [Una’s husband] and Pat [Una’s brother] and all of them. I am really so grateful to them.”

A Feis Dhoire Cholmcille stalwart, Mairéad recalled being entered for 26 competitions one year.

“I was very honoured to sing on the Centenary Feis CD, which was released at Easter,” said Mairéad. “I sang, ‘I Will Walk With my Love’ and ‘The Little House on the Road’, which is a song that my sister, Aine, used to sing at the Feis. I always watched her singing it, so when Pat asked me to sing, I sang that one because I never got to sing it at the Feis.

“When I was 15, I got my first taste of what it would be like to be a professional singer. I entered a competition called ‘BBC Talent’ and I won it. That opened a door for me as far as seeing what the future could be like. I ended up recording an opera for Sony Classical at Abbey Road. 

“So, my first experience of being in a proper working studio was at Abbey Road, with the BBC Concert Orchestra. That was amazing. I just knew from that moment I wanted to be a professional singer, so I stuck my head down for the next few years. 

“I did the panto in the Forum, Cinderella when I was 16. Jonathan Burgess and David McLaughlin at the Forum really nurtured me and gave me the confidence to go on and study singing. So when I was 18, I got into Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London,” said Mairéad.

With a gut instinct that she did not want to study classical singing or opera, Mairéad credited Head of Faculty, Linda Hirst, with pointing her in the right musical direction.

“Linda sat me down and told me to stop putting myself in a box. Well, that was a turning point for me. I realised I just had to be me and I just wanted to sing. 

“That is when I started to delve into my love of Folk music and ‘classical crossover’. I then got signed to Decca Records, on my final day at college. I was so happy because I knew I was going to be singing the music that I loved and the music that I grew up with. Songs like ‘Oft in the Stilly Night’ that I sang at the Feis. Those songs that were very much part of who I was, I was going to get to record them with Universal. That was really special.

“I recorded that with the London Symphony Orchestra and met lifelong friends. One of the fellas, Mark Wilkinson, at Universal, has been one of the constant people in my life. He was one of the people who looked after ‘Celtic Woman’.
‘Celtic Woman’ is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of ‘Riverdance’.

Mairéad said a subsequent spell teaching singing at a music school in London reminded her of what she loved about music.

She said: “Being around children and helping them and seeing their pure love of singing was amazing and gave me so much warmth in my heart.

“Then, out of nowhere, when I was 23, I got the call for ‘Celtic Woman’, which was just wild. 

“I left during the pandemic, which was a big decision but I felt it was the right time. 

“Honestly, I have never experienced anything like it in my life. I am so grateful for being a part of that group for eight years. Every time a new tour came round, I just signed on. The music for me was the most powerful music I ever sang in my life and to tour the world and to see people’s lives physically be changed through this music was like an outer body experience for most of the time.

“You would look out into the audience and you would be singing, ‘You Raise Me Up’ or ‘Danny Boy’ and you would see people from all across the world that you would never imagine would connect with the music, in China or Japan and South Korea, and they would be singing along to ‘Danny Boy’. That was so special,” said Mairéad.

Mairéad said she was now dedicating her time to making her own music again, along with her husband, Ronan Scolard, who is a composer and musician and directs an orchestra in Bulgaria. 

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Now living in Dublin, Mairéad began performing online concerts, which was how she funded her new EP, which will be released in 2023.

“But before that, my first single ‘Orphan Girl’ will be released on December 23, which I am so excited about. It was written by Brendan Graham who has become a great supporter and a great friend. He wrote ‘You Raise Me Up’ and  ‘Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears’.

“‘Orphan Girl’ is an incredible story about the orphan girls that were sent off 175 years ago, over to Australia, to marry and populate the colonies. It is an incredible story. 

“My husband did the arrangement for ‘Orphan Girl’ and it was recorded with a 52-piece orchestra in Bulgaria, the European Recording Orchestra. I am releasing it on my own record label, Paper Boat Records. It will be on all platforms from December 23.

“This is a beautiful time for me. I am so humbled and pleased to have a fantastic team supporting me.”