It was the year the bridge over the River Foyle was built, linking Lifford and Strabane. It was also the year Val Doonican released his single ‘Walk Tall’ and, most notably in Donegal, 1964 was the year that Margo (Margaret O’Donnell ) sang her way to prominence in her native county and shortly afterwards into the hearts of a nation.
That September 1964 performance by the then 13-year-old Margo with the Keynotes Showband at a dance in Ardara launched a career that has spanned five decades and the singer is still entertaining audiences all over Ireland and beyond.
This autumn, Margo is on her Promise and The Dream tour across Ireland and her legion of fans in Mayo will be delighted to learn she has scheduled a show here, performing in the Castlecourt Hotel, Westport, on Sunday October 5.
During her 50 years on the music scene, Margo has made many television appearances, including on the Late Late Show, Saturday Night Live, Live at Three, and the Lyrics Board on RTÉ, as well as hosting her own popular television show in the early 1970s.
She has performed in prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, New York, The Royal Albert Hall, London, The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the Wembley Country Music Festival. She has toured Australia and even performed in ‘Dollywood’, Tennessee.
To celebrate her half-century career in the Irish entertainment business, earlier this year Margo released a triple CD called 50 Years - 50 Songs, which includes some of her earlier songs as well as several new tracks.
She also released a 24-track DVD, which was recorded earlier this year in the Millennium Forum, Derry, and is now busy penning her autobiography.
Tickets for Margo’s Westport performance on Sunday in the Castlecourt Hotel are now available from Downtown Records, Castlebar and Westport.
