In April 1991, Dan Aquilante of the New York Post predicted that only time would separate Irish vocalist Mary Black from international stardom. A mere decade has passed and both time and territories have succumbed effortlessly to this eclectic singer, but the very notion that any barrier could resist the allure of Mary Black is almost inconceivable, then and now.

The Dublin singer, whose career began in the tiny folk clubs of her native city, has established herself as one of the finest female vocalists in the world, seducing and mesmerizing audiences all across the globe. Though many have tried, Black has left both music critics and lovers alike at a loss when they attempt to describe her musical talent. It almost escapes description, but is perhaps best summed up by Aliquante when he observed that Black simply had "a voice to die for".

After two years of honing her craft, Black has at last assumed her coveted place amongst the hard core of Irish domestic female artists including Enya, Sinead O'Connor and Clannad's Maire Brennan. And whilst the global obsession with all things Celtic is, to the relief of many, finally receding, it seems that Irish music lovers simply can't get enough of Mary Black.

It is a phenomenon that Black is at a loss to explain herself. Speaking to Irish Connections from her home in Dublin, Mary revealed that she was baffled by the demands being placed on her. "Its amazing, it is just growing all the time and here I am trying to wind it down! It seems like the more you do, the more they want."

It is certainly changed times for Black, who in the early years struggled for the kind of recognition that she now enjoys both in Ireland and internationally. An heir to the renowned Black dynasty, Mary is a member of one of the most legendary musical families in Ireland. Her father was a fiddle player and her mother a singer who sang in the dance halls of Dublin. All of the five Black siblings inherited a love of Irish music and proceeded to carve successful careers out of the musical legacy that their parents had created for them.

As a young child, Mary sang folk songs with her brothers, Shay, Michael and Martin and sister Frances, and by the time she had left St. Louis high school in Rathmines, Dublin, was performing with little known bands in Dublin folk clubs. Later she joined forces with the premium traditional group De Danaan, and whilst recording and touring with them began to address some of the fears that were holding her back as a solo artist. "After twenty years, I can honestly say that the fear has at last gone out of it, fear of not being good enough. I suppose that I have an easy confidence about what I do now but that wasn't always the case. It is only over the last ten years that I have been able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my work. People forget sometimes that I have been singing for a long, long time and that my career has been very gradual. It might be hard for people to understand now, but I used to get very nervous about how I would be received. People also thought in the early nineties that I was an overnight success, but there was a lot of pressure then; I was battling away with my own self-doubts and at the same time trying to build a career with three small kids in tow."

The decision to embark on a solo career isn't one that Black is likely to regret despite all her early misgivings. Black now has to platinum solo albums to her credit and has toured relentlessly throughout Ireland, Europe, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and America.

The major turning point for Black and her audience worldwide was the release of her fourth album in 1989, No Frontiers. The album achieved triple platinum status and remained in the Irish album charts for a 56 weeks. The rest, as they say, is history as Black dominated the highly lucrative Irish cultural revolution during the nineties. Shows like Riverdance and Feet of Flames elevated all things Irish into a new global dimension. Artists like Enya and Mary Black as well as actors like Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne all thrived on the dynamic of the 'Celtic Crossover'. But it wasn't just Hollywood that seized the Irish spirit as Broadway packed stalls with theatre-goers eager to sample the works of young Irish dramatists like Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) and Marie Jones (Stones in his Pockets).

The nineties heralded a new era for Ireland with its thriving economy and a renewed interest in its rich and diverse cultural traditions, and Mary Black occupied center stage for as long as the good times have lasted. "Maybe it is easing up a bit now, which is no harm, but the spotlight was very much on Ireland and all things Irish. "And it was great, great to be a part of that celebration. I was right there when it was happening and I definitely believe that I benefited from the experience."

International acclaim became the hallmark of Black's solo career during the nineties. Just when it seemed that she had reached her peak as an artist, Black confounded her critics with the release of new sounds that surpassed the confines of traditional Irish music. Black's music was suddenly being re-described as 'New World'. The revival of traditional Irish music had succeeded, but now something more was needed to maintain its appeal. Mary Black rose to the challenge alongside a host of talented songwriters as disparate as Steve Gooney, Jimmy McCarthy, Ron Sexsmith, and many others. The close of 2001 was a difficult time for Mary when her most treasured Irish songwriter, Noel Brazil, died suddenly as the result of a brain tumor. Brazil was the songwriter behind some of Mary's most successful and popular recordings including Columbus, Vanities, Babes in the Woods and Ellis Island. "It was an awful shock, it was so very sad because I felt Noel had an amazing talent and he never really got the recognition that I felt he deserved, working through people like myself recording his songs". Indeed, discovering some of Ireland's finest contemporary song-writing talent has become a Mary Black trademark. Black is an interpretative singer, but goes further than simply crediting her songwriters through her recordings and live performances. If a song falls into the hands of Mary Black, it becomes her own, period. "It works both ways, in a way I do see myself as a vehicle for making something really happen. I am lucky to have great songwriters behind me, but they feel the same way about me. I look at it like an orchestra performing a piece of Mozart or Beethoven. Many different people can perform the same music, but usually there is 'the one' who really makes it happen. I won't say that I am always that 'one', but with certain songs I have completely immersed myself in the emotion and sentiment of the song and felt almost like it is my own.

Mary Black has reached a comforting plateau in her career, performing live at the Bottom Line in New York with Joan Baez, singing alongside Emmylou Harris and Van Morrison. All were musicians and singers that she had listened to as a teenager in Dublin, and the recognition from her fellow artists has been as gratifying as the reception she has received from her fans.

In many ways, Black is the ultimate Irish Connection, weaving magic into the lives of Irish people who no longer live at home, and introducing her culture to people who have never even heard of her or who know little about Ireland. "It is truly amazing when you play somewhere very far away like Australia or Japan. A lot of the crowd will be Irish and they relate to your music because it brings them back, even if just for a few hours, songs like Ellis Island and A Song for Ireland. And I am as emotional as they are! The tears are running down my eyes because I relate to how they must be feeling. A lot of Irish people make choices now to move to America or Australia, but many were forced to emigrate in the past, particularly the older Irish who have made their homes and have raised families far away. And me coming along, it connects them, and I move with them. I get caught up in the whole emotion of it all, but whilst there are tears, they are happier tears now."

Although Mary Black's career has escalated to heights that not even she could have imagined, she is a woman with her feet placed very firmly on the ground. She laughs when she attempts to describe the two separate lives that she leads. She recalls that after her seminal sell-out show at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1991, she returned home to Dublin the next morning to discover that her kitchen windows were filthy. Minutes later, she was outside perched on a chair cleaning the windows when a man who had been in London the night previously drove past her. He was so shocked to find her cleaning her windows the morning after such a performance that he stopped the car to check it was really her. "Royal Albert Hall one minute and cleaning your windows the next. That's what it is like, that sums up the contrast of my life!"

Mary is proud of the way in which Irish women have taken their place in the highly competitive music business. "If you look around you generally music is definitely dominated more by men than by women, but that's not the case in Ireland where there are as many, if not more successful Irish female artists than male. That's unusual, but I think that Irish women are very strong. Up until twenty years ago the woman always stayed at home, they were the ones who held the family together, held it all together. I think that is why so many people identified with A Woman's Heart". A Woman's Heart was released in 1992 and became the biggest selling Irish album ever, bringing together 6 Irish female artists including Mary and her sister Frances, Eleanor McEvoy, Maire Brennan, Dolores Keane and Sharon Shannon). Added Mary, "you couldn't have made A Man's Heart even if you wanted to because there wasn't enough of them!"

Family remains the top priority for Mary Black. Married to Joe O'Reilly of Dara Records, the couple have three children, Coner (20), Danny (17) and Roisin (13). " I hate being away from them, and I make sure that I never go away for longer than three weeks. I have been trying to wind it down because I feel that it won't be long before they have all flown the nest and I don't want to miss out on anything". Winding down appears to be something of a pipe dream at the moment for Mary. In October 2001 she released a mammoth 16-song collection, The Best of Mary Black, 1991 - 2001. The release of the album is followed in 2002 by a Spring tour of the US, and European dates, including a sell-out tour of Holland, and a series of live performances in Ireland. Mary decided to give Ireland a rest for a year, but that was three years ago, so she is looking forward to playing in Ireland after such a long break.

Not surprisingly, Mary Black is looking forward to some precious downtime. Life is hectic, but she is taking it in her stride. Her immediate plan on completion of her tour is to retreat to her home in west Kerry in the heart of the Irish speaking Gaeltacht. "I'm happy with what I am doing right now, delighted that I am still enjoying it to the extent that I am. In the back of my mind I have thoughts for another album, but there's no rush... At this stage of the game, its time to just go with the flow and see what happens."