Iconic jazz singer Mary Coughlan to appear at The Apex later this month

Mary Coughlan, (pictured above) one of Ireland’s most revered and enduring performers, will celebrate her 40th year in music with a UK tour and the release of a new album, “Repeat Rewind” and is set to appear at the Apex, in Bury St Edmunds, later this month.

Coughlan proudly stands alongside some of the world’s most iconic jazz singers.

She is unique in blending whisky-blurred, smoke-seared, husky notes with the laconic wit of Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee.

She draws the line of deep, down and dirty blues singers back to Bessie Smith, with the sardonic, bitter-sweet defiance and despair of Edith Piaf.

Yet Mary Coughlan delivers it all in a delicious and unapologetic Irish drawl: sceptical, rueful, mournful and melting.

She says: “After 40 years in this business and having reached a point in my life where I do a lot of this, looking back and replaying scenes from my life … and wondering … I walk around Galway sometimes and remember absolutely everything about growing up there.

“All of those events made me who I am. I’m easy with that these days. The good and the bad times. All the learning. After 40 years in this crazy business, I’m still here and still working. I still love going to a studio and making music, I love playing music live.”

On new album “Repeat Rewind”, as the title might suggest, we see Mary at perhaps her most honest and introspective – but not at the expense of her trademark humour and astute observations of everything from domesticity and relationships to women’s traditional place in Irish society.

A cover of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and a new seasonal offering, “Tinseltown”, will delight listeners and concert-goers alike, as Mary Coughlan celebrates four decades in music with this accomplished and heartfelt new album and tour.

She at The Apex on Monday, April 21, at 7.30pm. See www.theapex.co.uk or ring 01284 758000 for more information, or to book tickets.