Marie Narelle
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28 January 1870
Marie Narelle | |
|---|---|
 Marie Narelle, from a 1906 newspaper. | |
| Born | Catherine Mary Ryan 28 January 1870 Combaning station, near Temora, New South Wales |
| Died | 26 January 1941 (aged 70) Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England |
| Other names | Catherine Mary Callaghan (after first marriage); Catherine Mary Currie (after second marriage) |
| Occupation | Singer |
Marie Narelle (28 January 1870 – 26 January 1941), born Catherine Mary Ryan, was an Australian singer, billed as "the Australian Queen of Irish Song".
Catherine Mary Ryan, called "Molly", was born at Combaning station, near Temora, New South Wales, the daughter of John Joseph Ryan and Catherine Mary Comans Ryan. Her father was a goldminer and a rancher.[1] She attended a convent school in Wagga Wagga, with further vocal training later in life, in Sydney.[2]
Career
Left to support three young children as a single parent, Molly Callaghan started teaching music to remote students in Candelo, riding her horse between lessons. She soon had a music studio in Sydney, and began performing under the stage name "Marie Narelle",[3] and billed as "the Australian Queen of Irish Song."[2]
As Marie Narelle, she gave concerts of Irish and Scottish ballads, arias, and other popular works. She was invited to Ireland to perform in 1902, and took the opportunity to study Gaelic. She performed at a benefit concert in London's Royal Albert Hall in 1902,[1] sharing the bill with Clara Butt and Ada Crossley.[2]
During the 1904–1905 season, she sang in New York,[4] was part of the Irish delegation at the St. Louis World's Fair,[5] and made recordings for Edison.[6] She toured New Zealand in 1906,[7] toured the United States in 1917,[8] and was heard on Australian stages again in 1909 and in 1925–1926.[2][9] She gave a concert at Carnegie Hall with both of her daughters in 1921, a fundraiser for the Woman's Hospital Alumnae Sick Benefit Fund.[10]
Narelle was based in New York City after 1910, and in England after her second husband's death in 1934.[2]
