Mary Coughlan is Ireland’s greatest jazz and blues singer and “one of our most openly raw performers” (Hot Press). In a career fast approaching its 40th year, she is about to enter its next, exciting stage.

Born in Shantalla, Galway, Mary has made some of the most uncompromising, wholly personal, and universal music by any Irish artist. While her roots are in jazz and blues – Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith are among her inspirations – pop, rock, folk, and chanson (Edith Piaf is also a touchstone) influences also appear in her work. Now, the next chapter of her distinguished career finds her exploring a little-known side of the music of Peggy Lee.

It was a voice which first came to wide attention in 1985, when Mary burst onto the Irish music scene with her debut album, Tired and Emotional. That album led to appearances on The Late Late Show, a hit single with ‘Delaney’s Gone Back on The Wine’, and tours of Britain, Germany, and Holland. She followed that explosive release with Under The Influence (1987), Uncertain Pleasures (1990), and Sentimental Killer (1992), which firmly established her reputation as an unflinchingly honest, emotionally raw vocalist, never afraid to embrace the most difficult of subject matter in her work.

Despite the difficulties she encountered, the music kept coming with Live In Galway (1996), After The Fall (1997), Mary Coughlan Sings Billie Holiday (2000), Long Honeymoon (2001), The House Of Ill Repute (2008), best of set, The Whole Affair (2012), released the same year she enjoyed a sold out show at Sydney Opera House, and Live & Kicking (2017).

Now sober for close to 30 years, the mother of five and grandmother of six, reached new peaks as a performer and songwriter with her most recent album, 2020’s acclaimed Life Stories.

Never one to sit still, Mary is now planning her most ambitious project to date. While she has covered Billie Holiday, Joy Division, and The Blue Nile in the past, she intends to reimagine the album Peggy Lee made with the pioneering rock’n’roll songwriters Lieber and Stoller, composers of such songs as ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’.

The album, Mirrors, described by Allmusic.com as “intelligent, evocative, understated, and mature”, explored themes of murder, madness, despair, longing, and the rise of Fascism in the USA. Mary has been eager to work on this project for many years, but it was during lockdown that the opportunity presented itself. This has led her to work with musicians and visual artists to create what will be an immersive, multimedia, experience.

What a way for Mary to mark her oncoming fifth decade in music.