INTERNATIONAL STARDOM BECKONS FOR WATERGRASSHILL FAMILY

Crystal Swing, a Watergrasshill based country and Irish family band, have become an overnight musical sensation after their Youtube video ‘He Drinks Tequila’ registered over 198,000 hits, taking the national and international media by storm.

The band, which consists of mother Mary Murray-Burke, daughter Dervla, 17, and son, Derek, 18 (pictured right), has even been promoted by American talk show host and actress, Ellen DeGeneris, who came across their Youtube video and tweeted it to her 4,000,000 followers.

The number of the hits skyrocketed on the Youtube site especially since their video was played on the Hot Country programme on Rural TV on Sky Channel back in January. The national media is also hot on the tails of Crystal Swing, with radio, TV shows and print media all looking for a piece of the action.

HAPPENED OVERNIGHT

“It really feels like it happened overnight. It came as a total shock. We never anticipated that we would become a phenomenon on Youtube. Ellen DeGeneris has our video posted on her website and Jonathan Ross has tweeted it. It’s gone beyond reality,” Mary told The Avondhu.

“Since our last CD album, ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’, in 2009, we have received tremendous airplay on radio stations and especially since our video appeared on Rural TV on Sky, on a programme called Hot Country on January 10. It got a very good response, and the next thing, we realised that there was a huge influx on our website and Youtube".

"It wasn’t until two weeks ago that we noticed the explosion of visitors to the site. We realised that our video on Youtube had over 80,000 hits,” she says. In the meantime the hits to the video link, coming from all over the world, have climbed to over 198,000.

NEVER STOPPED

“The phone has never stopped ringing. We keep getting e-mails, bookings and requests for CDs. We really have to get a manager on board, but we are not making any decision until after the Late Late Show on Friday night,” Mary said this week.

The music bug and the talent definitely runs in the family, as Mary Burke has been around music and performing all her life, “As a child my parents were very musical. I learned to play the accordion and I also did theatre and drama. I received many offers to join bands as a teenager, but I didn’t because of school. It has always been my ambition to be famous and to make a career in music".

"When my children were small I noticed their talent. They both loved the stage, and it was a natural progression. We passed on the love of music. Even now, the house is always full of music,” she revealed.

FAMILY SUCCESS

Mary is the keyboard player, vocalist and musical director for the band. She had been a one-woman band for many years before she formed the trio with her two children. Derek is the lead singer of the band and an accomplished guitarist, and a rock’n roller at heart, has a great love of the show band era and takes his inspiration from performers like Brendan Bowyer, Brendan O’Brien, Declan Ryan and many others.

Dervla, the baby of the family, has a unique country voice, and has received several awards over the years and taken many different roles in drama and singing.

LATE LATE SHOW

“We have been working very well as a threesome,” says Mary, who has been singing with Derek and Dervla for the past three years.

She is, however, quick to point out that this could all change as her two talented children may want to branch out and build their own careers in the music industry, which is something they all feel very strongly about. Both are, however, still in school, with Derek about to sit his Leaving Cert exam in June.

With a diary, which could easily be filled for the next four years, due to the unprecedented number of bookings and requests, it seems that all doors are open for the Watergrasshill country and Irish family band to make a big splash on both the Irish and international music scene. Crystal Swing will appear on the Late Late Show on this Friday night.

 

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