alison o'donnell (born 5 october 1952) is an irish musician, solo and band singer-songwriter.born alison bools in dublin to an english mother and irish father, raised in dalkey and educated at holy child killiney.ballet and sporting activities were early interests until the age of 11 when music became her abiding passion.her commitment was sealed when she took cecilia as her confirmation name (saint cecilia being the patron saint of musicians).at the age of 11 she co-founded the progressive folk rock band mellow candle with school friends clodagh simonds and maria white.they released their first single, feeling high on snb records (simon napier-bell) in 1968.this was followed by a secretarial course and employment until a full electric line-up of mellow candle reformed.the band lived and worked in ireland and england between 1969 and 1973 managed by thin lizzy manager, ted carroll.o'donnell and williams spent their wedding evening in concert with thin lizzy at the national stadium in dublin.bob geldof, luke kelly and members of clannad were amongst early spectators at irish concerts, and several members of the group participated in house sessions with pioneering traditional musicians, dónal lunny and andy irvine.the band released their latterly highly acclaimed, cult album, swaddling songs on decca records's deram subsidiary in 1972.the untimely and unhappy demise of mellow candle and the tough economic climate of the three-day week in 1973/74 london sent o'donnell and williams to johannesburg, south africa.simonds and murray ultimately went to new york, and boylan joined the gary moore band for a time.in the year before their departure they played belgian bars as a folk duo and formed a short-lived band with legendary guitarist jimmy faulkner, who died in 2008.disenchanted by hard drug use backstage, they abandoned the project.two years after their arrival in south africa the couple participated in palet, an afrikaans music and poetry programme in 1976 for the fledgling south african broadcasting corporation's television service.the show was considered too radical and highbrow, and never aired, resulting in the producer's resignation.they formed traditional group flibbertigibbet in 1977 with barrie glenn and jo dudding whom they met at mangles folk club.the band recorded their vinyl album, whistling jigs to the moon in 1978 in south africa for a slim, niche market, and made several appearances on satv.the recording was more fully appreciated and reissued in 1996.after the break-up of flibbertigibbet in 1979 o'donnell worked as a session singer for singer-songwriters and advertising agency recordings, toured in the musical i'm getting my act together and taking it on the road produced by des and dawn lindberg, and performed in a series of satirical revues in 1980/81 with south african actors and musicians: tortue revues i and ii in rockey street's famed 80s clubs, and fool marks and commit no nuisance at the chelsea hotel hillbrow with music by david marks (songwriter, producer and archivist), who had earlier given flibbertigibbet their first run at the market theatre in johannesburg.in the early to mid-80s o'donnell appeared briefly with jazz group theta and an early incarnation of the popular rock group ella mental at sun city.she recorded an album with writer/producer terry dempsey's band, plastik mak, which included his hit song daydreamer and performed in after-show cabaret with musician/actress michelle maxwell and on the folk club stage with blues/folk guitarist mike dickman.she also appeared regularly with singer-songwriters colin shamley and roger lucey, guesting on their respective albums.during this period she assisted in running the door for club le chaim, which featured musicians opposed to the apartheid regime.
alison o'donnell musician | genre | jazz <tsp> alison o'donnell musician | recordlabel | fruits de mer records
the band released their latterly highly acclaimed, cult album, swaddling songs on decca records's deram subsidiary in 1972.the untimely and unhappy demise of mellow candle and the tough economic climate of the three-day week in 1973/74 london sent o'donnell and williams to johannesburg, south africa.in the early to mid-80s o'donnell appeared briefly with jazz group theta and an early incarnation of the popular rock group ella mental at sun city.