ᴘʜɪʟᴏᴍᴇɴᴀ ʙᴇɢʟᴇʏ | 60 ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ & ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ
When Philomena first got up on stage in the Ardboe Hall in 1962, I don’t think anyone could have envisioned the success she would have. For 60 years Philomena has been preforming live on stage to crowds up and down this country and further afield and hasn’t plans of slowing down any time soon.
In May 1962, Philomena was called up on stage in the hall in Ardboe to sing a song with the Old Cross Ceili Band. From then on Philly became a regular with the band, becoming permanent not long after, and for good reason. The Old Cross Ceili Band enjoyed many years of success and with the changing of the guard on the music scene in Ireland the band slowly formed into Philomena Begley & The Country Flavour. For 12 years Philomena honed in on her music and firmly secured her footing in the music scene around Ireland before being approached by Tony Loughman to form a band.
Not long after Philomena got married, Tony & Philly sat down and came up with a plan to form a band around her. Philomena Begley & The Ramblin’ Men were born and their first gig together was Easter Sunday night 1974 in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan. For 10 years Philomena had the height of success with Top Rank. Recording 10 studio albums, numerous trips to America playing in Carnegie Hall, New York & Nashville to record in The Fireside Studio’s owned by Porter Wagoner and performing on stage at the Grand Ole Opry on several occasions. By 1984 Philomena established herself as one of Europe’s top female country artists after winning a European Gold Star Award in Holland in 1983. It wasn’t long until Mick Clerkin of Ritz Records took Philly in and with her new band, Shotgun, they went on to record 5 studio albums from 1984 to 1991. In 1992 Philomena received an award from the British Country Music Association in recognition of her contribution to the development of country music the past 30 years. The 90’s came and with that came more success. Back under the management of Tony Loughman Entertainments, Philly had several tours in Europe, America and Australia also a duet album with Margo that was recorded in Nashville and produced by the famous Tom Pick. Over the years Philomena has recorded several albums with another great, Ray Lynam. They even got an honourable mention from Shane McGowan in his song “A Pair of Brown Eyes”. Shane wrote that song while living in London, longing for home. But it just shows the influence that one Irish artist can have on another.
Philomena started off in 1962 not knowing what was to come. This past 60 years she has been at the top of her game the whole time. There is a reason Philly is called “The Queen of Country Music”.
Congratulations Philomena on 60 years of music & memories.
#TheQueenOfCountryMusic 👑
#TheTopAreWithTopRank 🎙️
11 май 2022
