Culture That Made Me: Gina (of the Champions) on Karen Carpenter, Elvis, and Cork's Stardust
Gina will perform with the Champions at Cork Opera House on St Patrick's night.Â
Mary Hurley, aka Gina of Gina and the Champions, grew up on Friars Walk, Cork city. In 1973, she co-founded Gina and The Champions. The band, whose name was inspired by Cork’s victory in that year’s All-Ireland football final, went on to become one of the showband era’s greatest acts. She married fellow band member Pat Walsh. Gina and the Champions will perform at Cork Opera House, 8pm, Monday, 17 March. See: www.corkoperahouse.ie.
My parents loved music. It was all there in our house. Every now and again when their friends came there would be a sing-song. My mam sang with her heart on her sleeve. She was amazing. She loved singing Nat King Cole.
I remember that when my dad would sing he always stood up. He never sat down singing, say, John McCormack and music like that. My dad was born on North Main Street in Cork. Three nights a week, he used to be in the Opera House because all the beautiful tenors came from all over the country and from all over the world to sing there. Cork was a huge musical city. My dad was immersed in all of that. He said the night the Opera House burnt down [1955], the people of Cork stood across from it and cried as it burnt to the ground.
Karen Carpenter had this most beautiful tone of voice. It was how she sang. She touched my heart. You could mention nearly any of the songs and I could sing it.Â
Without ever writing a song, she just had this special thing. My own voice would be similar. Maybe that's why I was attracted to her. I loved her.
Then the total opposite – Diana Ross, whom I love so much. She is beautiful as well, one of the Motown girls and what a voice she has. Looking back on her career in The Supremes – how she started from humble beginnings. To this very day she is amazing. She still has a beautiful voice, there belting it out, loving it. I went to see her one time in Dublin. She came up from the ground. It was stunning how beautiful she was, and to sit there and see her sing – because I sang some of her songs in my programme – and to see her as perfect, was an incredible feeling. I was in heaven at that gig.
Elvis was incredible. How could you not love him singing a song like Love Me Tender? He had a velvet voice. Visually, he was absolutely amazing. But the story that goes with him as well, as a young man what he did, he had to go into the army and all of that, and came through it. With a singer like Elvis, it’s innate. It was in his soul. He could put his soul out there and touch people. That's the magic of any artist, really.
When I was 17, my go-to place was the Stardust on the Grand Parade in Cork. Every week, on a Saturday night, off we’d go. It was a live music venue, Irish and international bands played there, all kinds of pop and middle of the road.Â
The Stardust woke me up. That was how I came into the music industry. Watching different bands and different people performing, dreaming away into the music every week, soaking it up.
I was always drawn to harmonies. Like, say, Billy Brown & the Freshman was an amazing band to watch. Billy would sit at the piano with his long hair, hanging down over the keyboards. All the bands brought something different. Billy Brown & the Freshman were special. I was too young to understand what it was. I just felt joy.
I went to Michael Jackson at Páirc UĂ Chaoimh in 1988. Oliver Barry – who was our manager – brought him to Cork, along with other artists. To see Michael Jackson in Cork at Páirc UĂ Chaoimh was amazing. His performance, his dance thing, the whole show was out of this world.Â
He had amazing musicians. All the beautiful songs that Michael Jackson had. It was the whole package. We were all in awe. This amazing artist that Oliver brought to our doorstep.
I also went to see Prince at Páirc Uà Chaoimh in 1990. Prince was amazing. He was jumping all over the shop. His voice, the ability to reach high notes, the harmonies, the girls in the band. You couldn't take your eyes off the whole show. World class.
I love operas. I've been to Berlin a few times. Our son lives there. For birthdays, he’d book something and Pat and I would go over to see the Berlin Philharmonic perform or to see an opera. Or in Cork in the Opera House I've been to see operas like La Traviata, Carmen, La Bohème. I love the passion. I love the classical voice. I would love to have been classically trained, but I can’t complain. I was born with something people like.
I love musicals. I loved Rebecca Storm in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers. I saw that in the Opera House. It was probably back in the 1990s. I love the story. There's a story to everything – to a song, to a show. It’s about the life of a mother who gave up her two boys. They were separated. One fella went one way and the other fella was a case of rags to riches. Eventually, one of them was shot. Oh, the sadness of the whole thing. For some reason, all musicals are very sad.Â
With Blood Brothers, I loved the drama and the passion of it, and the music, and the voice of Rebecca Storm that brought these beautiful songs to life.
I thoroughly enjoy cooking programmes. My first cooking lesson was when I was 15 and I loved it. If I wasn't doing what I am doing now, I think cookery is what I would be doing. So I enjoy sitting down, relaxing and looking at cookery programmes on television with, say, Rory O’Connell. He’s meticulous. It's the produce, how he talks about the produce. Everything is so fresh. He's lucky that he can go and he can pluck anything he wants from such a beautiful garden whilst he's demonstrating and showing it on TV. His food is very simple. It looks arty – he creates it in a beautiful way and he presents it in a lovely manner. He's one of the biggies, one of my favourites.
