Nicole maguire in monroes
Counting Damien Dempsey and Nancy Griffith as friends and mentors, Cork singer Nicole Maguire has grown from a shy 15-year-old performing at local venues to a mesmerising, accomplished star whether fronting a band or performing solo with an acoustic guitar.
Focused and driven, Nicole raised the money to travel to Nashville to write and from there road tested her songs around America.
More double jobbing raised the money to work with one of the most respected producers in the world, multi Grammy nominated Mitchell Froom (Pearl Jam, Randy Newman and Ron Sexsmith, to name a few), and he was so impressed with Nicole that he persuaded an elite band of musicians to record with her.
The band included drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello), bassist Bob Glaub (Crosby, Stills & Nash), and guitarist Val McCallum (Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams), with Vonda Shepherd providing backing vocals. He also acquired the services of Grammy award winning engineer David Boucher.
The result was Nicole's debut album, What You Really Mean, which was released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
After a hectic few months in Ireland, including numerous radio sessions and an appearance on The Late Late Show, Nicole headed overseas for a Swiss tour followed by an American tour in July opening for Damien Dempsey. She was extremely well received in the States and performed her own shows in New York and San Francisco.
Jake Clemons (nephew of Clarence and member of The E Street Band), a fan since seeing Nicole performing in Ireland, surprised her by making a 400-mile journey to join Nicole on stage in New York.
She was invited back to San Francisco for two more shows, as well as attending one of the best songwriters’ conferences on the west coast where she made many friends, resulting in yet another trip to the States in October for a series of meetings, co-writes and private showcases.
One of the highlights of her year so far was performing in the National Concert Hall with Damien Dempsey, where she also got to share the stage with artists including Moya Brennan, John Sheehan and Lumiere.
Nicole is currently on tour again and comes west to headline at Monroe's Live in Galway tomorrow (Thursday, November 20), where her latest single - 'With You' - will be launched.