Frances Black - “A Woman’s Heart was the inspiration for the Spice Girls!”
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Now, we're joined now by a true Renaissance woman, an award-winning singer, activist, founder of the Rise Foundation and independent senator, Frances Black, who has chosen five songs that have been the soundtrack to her very multifaceted life. Frances, you're very welcome to the show.
It's great to be here, Clare. Thanks for having me.
Before we begin and we talk about you, so many tributes there to Brenda Fricker. What was your reaction when you heard the news?
I'm very sad. I mean, I don't know anybody in Ireland who wouldn't feel sad about Brenda's passing. She was a legend and she'd hate me saying that. I mean, I never met her myself personally, but I do remember that moment, you know, the Oscar win. It was really an iconic moment and we were so proud of her. You know, we were so proud of that film. That film was an incredible film. Christy Brown, the whole thing. And yeah, it was an amazing time.
But yeah, very sad to hear her passing. Yeah, very sad. And I think the nation feels as you feel about Brenda this morning. Now, I'm conscious when we are looking at the songs or the soundtrack to your life of asking a singer about this, because there must be so many musical highlights for you and moments in in song that track your life. But let's start at the start, will we? You grew up with your siblings and your parents in the heart of Dublin City on Charlemagne Street. What was that like?
It was an incredible place to be born and reared. I mean, Charlemagne Street like was, you know, obviously tenement houses. And we lived in a tenement house. I remember I was the youngest of the five. So, you know, when my parents moved in there and got married, they had one room. So there was a bed and a kitchen, you know, there was a bed in the room, there was a little kitchen, you know, where they could cook and that was it. And then as the family started to grow, my father would have rented more rooms in the house as soon as they became free. So we had one room kind of in the middle floor and then we had some bedrooms upstairs.
But there were other families living in the same house.
There was other families living. And there wouldn't have been, say, there would have been about two or three families living in the house we had. I remember the Smiths upstairs as well. They had loads of kids. And then Mrs. Goss lives downstairs. Or Mrs. Brady, I think it was, lived downstairs. There was just other families around. But in our house next door to us, and I've often told this story on stage, there was a lot more families for some reason. It seemed to be a bigger house, but it was an open door. So people came and go, you know, but, you know, there was the family next door. One of the families next door had about 12 kids in the family, you know. And so there was just we had like there was just lots of, you know, playing outside and, you know, playing beds and playing, you know, like skipping and anything you could kind of, you know, you just had loads of kids to play with.
And everybody looked after everybody. There was a lot of poverty. I do remember that there wasn't much work for me for my father. So, you know, there was times where he couldn't get work. He was a plasterer. And I know there were times that my mother would have worried about that. Food, you know, and but she always made sure and if she had food, she would feed everybody. Do you know that way? My father had a job. She would make sure she'd feed all the other kids on the street or the, you know. She would feed the entire house and the next door neighbours as well. Anybody that she, everybody looked after everybody, you know, back then.
I mean, that tight knit community that you're talking about, your mother, Patricia, Patty, was it? She really sounded like she was at the heart of it, wasn't she? I mean, your dad was there, but as you say, he was away working a lot when you were younger. And she was the kind of the matron.
She was ensuring that everyone got something. A hundred percent. And she took great pride in being a mother. And as I said to you, there was times that she, you know, she would worry, but she got a job herself, which was quite, you know, unusual.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:20
2
How did Frances Black's Dublin tenement childhood shape her musical roots?
4:20–16:08
3
What memories connect Frances to her parents' sing-songs and family performances?
16:08–25:53
4
Why is Judy Garland's Singing in the Rain Frances's first choice and what does it mean to her?
25:53–29:44