Ireland's Queen of Country BegleyPhilomena looks back on 60 years of showbusiness for bbcradioulster's Irish Music Icons series 🎵
Philomena accidentally entered the world of country music at a local dance, when she was called on stage as a dare to sing a song with the Old Cross Céilí Band.
An instant hit, she was asked to fill in as cover for someone who had taken ill in the band and suddenly became swept up in the 1960s dance-hall circuit. She sang four songs a night with the band after her day working in the hat factory. It wasn't long before she became the most popular part of the show.
Looking back, Philomena fondly remembers many happy years performing everywhere from small parish halls to larger commercial venues.Philomena with the band Country Flavour, which included her husband Tom Quinn On the road, she became "one of the lads", living a life with precarious conditions, limited changing facilities and few female companions.Romance blossomed with Tom Quinn, a young accordion player in the band whom she later married and had a family with.
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