Paula Xiberras
The name O’Donnell derives from the word ‘Domhnall’ which means ‘ruler of the world’ and indeed Irish singer Margo O’Donnell has ruled the world in her reign as Ireland’s premier country and Irish singer for 52 years.
I was fortunate to speak to Ms O’Donnell about her career and her new book which recounts humble beginnings and joy in the simple but fundamental things of life. To this day Ms O’Donnell maintains that same humility and holds high in respect her fans who she prefers to call friends.
Nowadays Margo is semi-retired and living life in ‘the slow lane’ she tells me. She doesn’t tour anymore but still does concerts in Ireland and will always sing and record. Margo looks back fondly at days on the road taking her music around the world including Tasmania.
Margo O’Donnell remembers her visit to Tasmania in 1994 as ‘a bit of a whirlwind’ section of her Australian tour and recalls the beauty of Tasmania, a beauty at the time she wasn’t able to appreciate fully due to rushed rehearsals and to her falling ill while on tour, later she would discover she had a rare blood disease called dyscrasia.
Margo grew up in Ireland when the only phone to access was the one at the local post office and to do so you had to book it in advance! This may seem unduly inconvenient but there was a certain charm about this childhood as well.
When Margo was born she was slightly sick and so her parents wished to baptize her in the hospital, with no Godparents around a young girl who had been admitted to hospital for her appendix to be removed and that had befriended Margo’s mum Julia was asked to be Margo’s Godmother and her Godfather was a gentleman visiting his wife in the hospital. Still today, Margo keeps in touch with that gentleman’s daughters who call her ‘sister’.
Margo’s own dad was her hero,’ a great and special guy, wonderful,’ a man who, for her ‘he hung the stars’ this wonderful man she also describes as being ‘on loan’ and explains how the family lost him too soon. Her dad also had what her mum called ‘the cure of evil’. He was the seventh son of the seventh son, this relationship granting the person the ability to facilitate cures. She recounts the story in her book of how her dad cured a woman of a facial problem and how he also cured Margo herself of a growth on her finger.
When her father passed away he asked Margo to take care of the family, she being the second oldest and with her elder brother being not well at the time. It was a big call for the young girl but one she took on gladly. Taking care of the family meant fi Margo had to put aside her plans to study nursing and for marriage and family to make a career out of her natural talent for music. The first band Margo joined was The Keynotes, an Irish showband. This year Margo celebrates 52 years in music, she admits she has walked some dark roads to find the light at the end of the tunnel but that her strong spiritual beliefs have seen her through those Difficult times. Long may this lovely lady’s reign continue!
Margo’s autobiography is out now and published by O’Brien Press (Ireland).
