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Danny O’Reilly reveals why he kept quiet about his mum being singer Mary Black

The Coronas frontman wanted to form his own success

VIPIRELAND.COM

Danny O’Reilly has revealed why he kept quiet about his mum being folk singer Mary Black.

The 33-year-old’s band The Coronas first started gigging in 2003, but as they started making a name for themselves, Danny kept hush about the identity of his famous mother.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, Danny said: “It was two or three years before I spoke about it.”

“We got away with it for a long time before people copped on. It wasn’t so much a secret, it was just I wasn’t going to bring it up when I was chatting to journalists.”

G. McDonnell / VIPIRELAND.COM

“But once The Coronas got to a certain stage, and created our own success, I was more than happy to talk about it because I’m incredibly proud of my mother. She’s a legend and has been very supportive.”

He went to explain: “You always get some people saying negative things, like ‘His ma is helping him out’ but that’s going to happen anyway. Generally, I have been well treated over the years. It was never a big issue for people.”

“It was easier for me than for my sister Róisín [stage name Róisín O] because she probably had more comparisons because she’s female, and a solo artist — although she’s part of a band now.”

While Danny and his mum have performed together in the past, he’s keen to keep their professional careers separate.

He said: “We’ve done a couple of things over the years but we try to keep things separate. There was a Late Late special last year that I reluctantly got involved with last year. I was glad I did because it was brilliant.”

“But mum has her own path and I have mine. There isn’t much of a crossover. If the right thing came along, you never know. But I can’t see anything like that anytime soon. My mum is winding down her career gently, she picks and chooses what she wants to do.

“My brother Conor has two kids so she is happy being a granny as well. It’s really nice for her to have family time at home,” he added.

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