Gigs & albums: Mary Coughlan is loving it still ahead of Hassocks date

She's already toured Australia and New Zealand this year. Later on, she will be recording a new album in the States.

But for the moment Irish vocalist Mary Coughlan is on an autumn tour in the UK with dates including Saturday, October 3 at Mid Sussex Music Hall in Hassocks – the latest adventure in more than 40 years in the business.

“I have been singing since 83 or 84. The first album came out at Christmas 84, and it was an album that I was not really prepared for, to be honest. I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen. I did a gig in Dublin and there were four people there. But it's a funny thing, the importance of the radio or at least back then. I don't know if it's still the same today. But there were a couple of DJs in Ireland that played that album. There were three late evening shows from 8pm to 1pm, and they played whole sides of the album and then the following week I went to do a gig, after only having had four people in the audience the previous time, and they told me that people had been queuing at the venue and that the queue had started at 6pm!

“I left Galway with three young children and said that I was going to give it a try. That album became huge for me. The whole thing changed my life.”

And she's still going strong – as indeed are plenty of veterans of the scene.

“Look at Van Morrison. He was 80 something the other day and he's still churning out albums. And you've got Paul McCartney. I think the thing is that I got a really loyal fanbase around the world at that time, and they have stayed. I've done 15 albums at this stage and all the people that like the music have now got children and the children are listening to it as well now. They're discovering it and they're remembering music that they grew up listening to.

“The business has changed utterly. I think television has changed completely. It used to be Jools Holland or the Late Late Show in Ireland but that's not really happening anymore. It's now the internet and that awful bl**dy tiktok, and I think the whole AI thing is going to be hugely bad.”

But audiences have stayed loyal. And for Mary it's the thrill of live performance that keeps her going: “It's the gigs. I love the gigs I'm still doing and I'm very lucky to be doing them. I'm in a good position right now and I don't underestimate that. My voice is still there and that's the main thing. I hate to say it but I've never really done anything. I sometimes steam my vocal cords, maybe twice a year but I don't even really do warm-ups more or less but I just keep going and I love the live performance.”