Tina Reynolds
Bands: Mexicans • Real McCoy
• Nevada Showband • Solo cabaret
Tina Reynolds is one of the best known female vocalists to come of our Ireland.
Born Philomena Quinn in Greystones, County Wicklow, she went to England in 1964 where her
mother sadly passed away and the young teenager decided to stay and worked as a
telephonist. She got her start in the showband scene when, at the age of
sixteen, she won a talent contest in Butlins, Skegness. When her win was
reported in the newspaper back home, Tom Cranny, manager of The Mexicans, sent
her a telegram, asking if she was interested in joining a showband.
She didn't hesitate and quit her job to return
to Ireland. She immediately adopted the stage name, Tina,
and started her career with The Mexicans Showband.
Tina's life would change when drummer Desi Reynolds joined the
Mexicans. They would eventually marry and she became Tina Reynolds.
After four years traveling with the Mexicans and learning the
business, Tina and Desi left to join Jim Farley's big band, The Tophatters
in 1968. In an era when most of the lead singers were men, Tina was one of the few women to shine.
In
1969, Tina joined The Real McCoy, one of the first "pop" bands to break through on the Irish ballroom circuit. Their up tempo, danceable pop music, combined with Tina's excellent voice and good looks, made the band a favorite with punters.
Tina had her first hit record in 1971 when they recorded, "I
Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar. The
record hit number one in the Irish charts and helped make Tina a
household name. The band followed up with two more charts singles in
1972 and 1973 (see below).
In July, 1973, Tina's career was set back when she was injured in
a terrible accident on the way home from a gig, along with several other members
of the Real McCoy. Her injuries were so severe, it
took almost a year for her to fully recover and she did not return to the Real
McCoy. In 1974, Tina got what was arguably her greatest break when she was selected to sing Ireland's
1974 Eurovision entries. The winner was "Cross Your Heart," written by Chips front man, Paul Lyttle. Unfortunately, this was the same year ABBA was to break all Eurovision records with their world wide hit, "Waterloo."
However, the international
exposure proved Tina could hold her own with any female vocalist and shortly after returning from Luxembourg, she was asked to join top pop showband,
The Nevada in mid 1974, replacing Kelly, who split from the band
around the same time Red Hurley went his own way as well. As an aside, Red would represent Ireland at Eurovision two years later in 1976 with
the song, "When."
Also joining
The Nevada and replacing Red Hurley was Glen Curtin, popular vocalist from Cork with
The New Blues. Together, Tina and Glen more than matched the star quality of their predecessors, and The Nevada continued to enjoy success from one end of the country to the other.
In 1976, Tina released I'll Do It All Again which spent eighteen
weeks in the Irish charts peaking at number three.
In 1977, fate dealt another severe blow to Tina when she
was injured in yet another accident, this time returning from a gig in Galway
with the Nevada. It took Tina many weeks to recuperate from her injuries and
when she finally healed, she decided to call it quits. In 1978, Tina announced her "retirement" from the showband
scene. No longer wanting to be away from home, not to mention the hassles of
traveling up and down the country, Tina switched her focus to a career on the
Dublin cabaret scene and family life. In leaving the band scene, an interesting
side note is that her replacement in the Nevada was mistakenly reported in
Spotlight to be Kim Newport.
Over the fourteen year period she spent on the
showband scene, Tina was one of the country's first and best loved
female stars. However, her career also highlighted some of the
dangers associated with life in an Irish showband.
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