Mary Black - The Best Of Mary Black - Looking Back (1995)

Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known for her interpretation of both traditional folk and modern material, making her a major performer in her native Ireland.
Mary Black was born into a musical family on Charlemont Street, Dublin, one of four siblings. She was educated at St. Louis High School, Rathmines. Her father was a violinist who came from Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland, and her mother was a singer. Her brothers, Shay and Michael Black, have their own band, the Black Brothers, and her sister, Frances, achieved great success as a singer in the 1990s. From this musical background, Mary began singing traditional Irish songs at the age of eight. As she grew older, she began performing in small clubs in Dublin with her brothers (Shay, Michael and Martin Black).

The What Hi-Fi? magazine considered Black's voice so pure that it was used as an audiophile benchmark for comparing the sound quality of various hi-fi systems. Music critic and lyricist Michael Leahy once said: "Over the years, Mary Black has defined what many consider to be the essence of Irish female singers: deep, slightly ethereal and beyond the bounds of trend." Today, Black is highly regarded in her homeland, Ireland and beyond, and is considered one of the most important Irish singers of her generation.