在爱尔兰音乐热衷者的眼中，爱尔兰传奇人物玛丽·布莱克一直是世界上最出色的女歌手之一。 由都柏林的民歌俱乐部起步，玛丽·布莱克在其备受瞩目的20年音乐生涯中成功发行了9张白金销量的独唱专辑，其中包括居爱尔兰音乐榜前30位长达56星期的《No Frontiers》（《无边界》）。玛丽·布莱克理所当然地成为爱尔兰音乐史上的先驱人物，使爱尔兰音乐在世界舞台上绽放。 1983年，玛丽发行了个人第一张同名专辑。这张专辑曾一度升到爱尔兰唱片榜第4，是80年代初爱尔兰最佳唱片之一。这张唱片为她成绩斐然的歌唱生涯赢得了第一个音乐奖项——爱尔兰独立艺术奖。 与传统乐队“地丹南”乐队成功合作之后，玛丽和制作人兼吉他手迪克兰·斯诺特再度联手录制了第二张唱片——《Without Fanfare》（《没有喇叭声》）。这张唱片确立了玛丽式的商标：善于发现爱尔兰当代优秀的词曲作者，并用自己独特的嗓音把这些歌带上世界歌坛。《旧金山纪事》称她为“世界上最出色的诠释歌手之一”。 1987年的《By The Time It Gets Dark》(《夕阳恋人》)又为玛丽添了些保留曲目，这些由理查得·汤普森和桑迪·丹尼创作的歌曲丰富了爱尔兰的原创音乐。对于所有的音乐素材，玛丽·布莱克都进行了独一无二的处理，把天籁和现实相结合。《电报》称她的嗓音“祥和又有带着些许伤感的优美”。 紧接着，她发行了《No Frontiers》（《无边界》），这是1989年爱尔兰最畅销的唱片之一。这张唱片为玛丽开拓了欧洲、美国和日本市场。于是，她的下一张唱片备受期待。1991年的《Babes in the Wood》（《森林里的小孩》）跃上爱尔兰唱片榜冠军宝座，她在艾伯特演奏厅两场演唱会的票也一售而空。玛丽在英国进行了第一次巡回演唱，并获得《卫报》、《泰晤士报》和《电报》的极高评价。 唱片一张胜过一张。1993年的《The Holy Ground》（《圣地》）在发行当天便获得白金销量。后来，玛丽又在一周内在都柏林Point剧院连唱5场，可容纳20000多人的剧院场场爆满。1995年的《Circus》（《马戏团》）在英国唱片榜上攀升到16位，成为她卖得最好的专辑。 也许对这位刻苦、谦逊的歌手而言，同辈艺人对她的尊敬比所获得的荣誉给她更大的满足。她先后与埃米·卢·哈里斯、玛丽·翠萍·卡朋特、约翰·琼·巴埃兹、范·莫里森一起录音或现场演唱。 在1997年的唱片《Shine》(《闪亮的风采》)中，玛丽·布莱克开始新的试验。这是她第一次脱离迪克兰·斯诺特的制作技巧录制唱片，给人一种回到了10多年前的感觉。玛丽请到了美国着名制作人赖瑞·卡连。卡连曾为琼妮·蜜雪儿、夏卡·康、蒂娜·特纳和夏恩·柯文制作过唱片。1996年末，这张唱片在洛杉矶完成录制。在很多人心目中，这是玛丽最棒的作品之一。 凭着《Speaking with the Angel》（《天使对白》），玛丽在继续挖掘爱尔兰词曲作者的同时，又回到了她的起点。她再一次演唱了她个人最喜欢的创作人谢恩·霍华德、诺尔·布雷泽、史蒂夫·库尼的歌。爱尔兰音乐主流杂志《热点新闻》对此唱片的总评价是：“如果这是你所寻求的‘杰出’的基准，生命的断言，那么这张唱片很适合你。惊人的素材。” by Sandra BrennanMary Black is a performer equally at home singing traditional Irish folk tunes and contemporary music including blues, rock, jazz, country, and soul. She was born into a musical family as the daughter of a fiddler and a singer. She started out professionally with her brother and sister in Dublin nightclubs and then performed with General Humbert, a folk group, until 1982 when she released her eponymous solo debut. The album made it to the Top Five on the Irish album charts and won the Irish Independent Arts Award for Music. At the invitation of Alec Finn, Black joined the band De Danann. A week later, she took part with them in the recording of Song for Ireland. She remained with De Danann for three years. In 1984, Black helped produce and sang backup on Blacks Family Favourites. She was still performing with De Danann when she launched her solo career with the Declan Sinnott-produced, largely pop album Without the Fanfare. Many of the tracks went gold, and for both 1987 and 1988, she was named Best Female Artist in the Irish Rock Music Awards Poll. Blacks music crossed the Atlantic in 1990 when her 1989 album No Frontiers debuted in the U.S. and climbed to the Top 20 of the New Adult Contemporary chart. It was also a top-seller in Ireland. That year Black began a successful concert tour of Japan. Though her music is firmly based in Irish tradition, Black was interested in performing all kinds of music, with influences that included Sandy Denny and the Fairport Convention as well as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Bonnie Raitt. Throughout the 90s she continued to release a steady stream of albums, including 1991s Babes in the Wood, 1993s The Holy Ground, and her first American record, 1997s Shine, which found Black singing more-polished pop songs (though its follow-up, Speaking with the Angel, saw her return to folk). In 2005 Full Tide, which included a cover of Bob Dylans Lay Down Your Weary Tune along with new tracks, came out in the U.K., and hit American soil the following year.