Mary Byrne (singer)

Early and personal life

Byrne lives in Ballyfermot, Dublin with her daughter Deborah, whom she raised alone with help from her parents. She suffers from arthritis in her knees which proved difficult for Mary during the initial stages of the X Factor, but has led to comical improvisations during her tour with Grease. Before The X Factor, she worked for supermarket chain Tesco, leading to her referral as "Tesco Mary". She quit singing at 28 because of low self-esteem after a failed relationship. After her appearance on The X Factor she admitted on RTÉ's The Late Late Show that she had suffered from clinical depression for a number of years. However, she later returned to perform pub gigs in 2005 to give her musical career a try where she also performed with her brother, Tommy, under the name The Tommy Lee Experience. In 2008 she won the Irish television singing contest Nollaig No. 1 using the name Mary Lee and released the single "Siúil Leat".

2010: The X Factor

Byrne entered reality television show The X Factor in 2010. In her audition, she said that she wanted to be a singer all her life but had very low self-esteem holding her back but 'got the confidence to go out and do it in the last 5 or 6 years'. She impressed the judges with her performance of "I (Who Have Nothing)" and was put through to the next round. At the judges' houses she performed "Fix You", and was put through to the live shows, even though she forgot a few words to the song. Her employer, Tesco Ireland, started a campaign to persuade all staff to support her. On the first live show, Byrne gained the most public votes by singing "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". The audience gave Byrne a standing ovation after the performance and the longest round-of-applause of the series. Mary was in the 'Final Showdown' twice. In the quarter-final, she was in the Bottom Three with fellow contestants Wagner, and Katie Waissel. As Waissel received the fewest votes she was automatically eliminated. Mary was in the Final Showdown with Wagner and Byrne was sent through to the semi-final by judges, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole. This meant Simon Cowell didn't have to vote but confirmed that he also would've sent Byrne through to the semi-final. However, in the semi-final, Byrne was in the bottom two with Cher Lloyd and was eliminated with only her mentor, Walsh voting to send her through to the final, finishing in fifth place. After the series finished, voting statistics revealed that Byrne had received more votes than Lloyd. This meant that if there wasn't a Final Showdown or if Minogue and/or Cowell voted to send Byrne through to the final or if the result went to deadlock, Byrne would've been sent through to the final and Lloyd would've been eliminated. Mary performed a total of 15 different songs, on 13 occasions in front of the judges:

2011: Mine & Yours

After the elimination from The X Factor, Byrne signed a record deal with Sony Music Ireland and began work on her debut album. The album, Mine & Yours, was released in the UK on 28 March 2011, and 25 March in Ireland. Byrne released her debut single, a cover of Martina McBride's "I Just Call You Mine", due to phenomenal demand when the track was debuted from her album Mine & Yours on Irish radio. The fan reaction was so positive that Sony Music Ireland were 'inundated' with requests to make the song available to the public and 'eager fans' prior to the album's release. After little to no promotion, the song peaked at number 12 on the Irish Singles Chart. Byrne revealed her album would be sold on QVC like Susan Boyle did to help sell a few more copies. In an interview with Digital Spy Byrne stated;

The album was produced by hit-maker, Nigel Wright and contains tracks which Mary performed on The X Factor. However, the songs on the album are not her performances from the show. Byrne was on the 2011 The X Factor Live Tour, and Sony Music began planning Byrne's first solo concert tour before she decided to move onto Universal music. Mine & Yours debuted at number-one on the Irish Album Charts on 31 March 2011.

2011: ...with Love

On 13 September 2011, it was announced that Mary Byrne had asked to end her record deal with Sony, and asked to switch to Universal. It was later announced that she had started working on a second album, produced by Phil Coulter, to be released in Ireland by Universal Music Ireland, and in the UK by Decca UK. On 2 November, Mary Byrne stated on her Facebook page that her latest album, which is called ...with Love, would be released in Ireland on 25 November. Her management team later announced that the album would be released the following year in March for the UK. She appeared on The Late Late Show the day of Ireland release, and talked to Ryan Tubridy after performing a song on the album called "Thank God That This Was My Life", written for her by Phil Coulter.

2012: "An Evening With Mary Byrne & Phil Coulter"

Mary began a concert featuring her latest songs from the album with Phil Coulter at the INEC, Killarney and in the Royal Theatre, Castlebar in April 2012. Initially, one night was planned for the acts to perform in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin on 8 May 2012. However, the public demand for tickets was so overwhelming, 5 extra nights were added, eventually resulting in a total of a 6 night residency leading up to 13 May 2012. Both Mary Byrne and Phil Coulter performed individually throughout the shows, but they also sang numerous duets. The shows were met with a number of standing ovations from the audience and an encore on each of the six nights. Despite the fact the concert was initially intended to showcase songs from "...with Love", Mary sang several songs from her début album "Mine and Yours" and other songs which did not appear on either album.

Autobiography

In November, 2011, Byrne released an autobiography co-written by Eddie Rowley entitled "This Is My Life", based upon the Shirley Bassey hit of the same name. The book was released by O'Brien press in Ireland and was on the best seller list for four weeks. During the same time, the book was also released in the United Kingdom. "This Is My Life" was received by good reviews, not only catering to fans of The X Factor but regaling stories of a Dublin youth and an exhilarating list of experiences, appealing to a wider audience. Amongst the stories which Byrne narrates throughout the book, she writes of a year which she spent on kibbutz Geva in Israel, travelling Europe whilst working for a Dublin factory, moving homes and even winning a car. The book contains several accounts of failed relationships, and Byrne admits to having a two-year lesbian relationship with a colleague. A darker side to the book looks at the deaths of Byrne's parents, and in particular, the heartache which Byrne experienced after the death of her mother, who suffered from suspected Alzheimer's Disease A first hand account is given of life on The X Factor both on stage and backstage through the eyes of a contestant, describing the difficulties which Mary experienced, her true opinions of other contestants and her stance on the judges. The book achieves in combining fifty years of a 'salt of the earth' existence with a new-found life of fame, both sides experienced by the same person.

2013–14: Magic of the Musicals

In March 2014 Mary recorded "Magic of the Musicals". This reflects her love of the timeless classics. Magic Of the Musicals contains eleven tracks including 'On The Street Where You Live', Cheek To Cheek', and 'Hello Young Lovers'. The album also includes Mary's first self-penned number, 'Midnight Dreamer'.