Tearful Tom Jones gives thumbs-up to west of Ireland songstress

FAMILIAR FACE ?Sharon Murphy has played many gigs in Westport.

Tearful Tom Jones gives thumbs-up to west of Ireland songstress


Sharon Murphy spent summers in Westport

Áine Ryan

NO surprise that Welsh crooner, Tom Jones was moved to tears by west of Ireland songstress, Sharon Murphy, in Saturday’s The Voice UK. Bob Dylan’s 1973 ‘Forever Young’ is a poetic blessing by a parent and while Sharon Murphy, who spent her childhood summers with the McNally family of Westport, spent time with her birth mother, she grew up in an orphanage in Clifden, County Galway.
Indeed, Ms Murphy has played at many gigs in Westport, and throughout Mayo, over the years and was very much part of its artistic scene in the past. She was accompanied at The Voice by well-known local women, Kathleen Duffy and Eva Brady.
Now, she is being tipped as the one-to-watch in the UK version of the internationally popular show. Ms Murphy, who lives in Kinvara, County Clare, works as an anti-racism campaigner in Galway. She almost moved Tom Jones to tears with her haunting rendition of Dylan’s classic song.
The 52-year-old revealed on the show that she had a difficult upbringing but that singing had always given her ‘solace’.
“I grew up in an orphanage in Ireland. It was quite a painful place. Not knowing who my family is made me feel isolated ad lonely. As a black Irish I did experience at times being treated differently. It was scary but it was family and it was home. It’s what I knew.”As a singer songwriter I use my personal experience through music and it has been a real solace for me. It has been a healer,” she said.
Her moving performance led to judges Tom Jones and Ricky Wilson turning their chairs at the last minute, while the other two judges, Rita Ora and Will.i.am praised her.
Tom Jones said: “You touched me. You came through to me. You hit me in the heart. It cuts right through to my heart. You just did that for me.”
Sharon said she hoped The Voice would turn out to be a great experience for her overall.
“I hope to stay in this world of music, because that’s what I love. And I hope The Voice UK will will give me a platform for my work.”