A life of song celebrated as Tuam soloist marks her 80th birthday

[gallery link='file' columns='9' orderby='rand'] By JACQUELINE HOGGE SINGING careers nowadays are often marked by a one-hit wonder, such is the manufactured nature of the music industry, but for one Tuam lady who has been entertaining with her unique voice for almost seven decades, true talent lives on.[private] Jean Healy Joyce will mark her 80th birthday tomorrow (Thursday) at the Basilica in Knock where she will perform at the monthly Mass for the sick, a performance the mezzo soprano has been giving on a regular basis for many years. Singing since she was 11, Jean, who originally hails from Dublin, has no plans to retire from a career that spans 69 years and began when she performed at the wedding of a family friend back in 1942. 'My grandmother was asked if I would sing at her friend's wedding and she immediately went out to Piggots and bought sheet music for Panis Angelicus and Prayer Perfect, which was originally sang by Count John McCormack at his son's wedding,' she said. 'I still have the sheet music and I still use it as they are two of my favourite hymns.' Raised by her grandmother who owned a shop on Dublin's Berkeley Road, opposite the Mater Hospital, Jean's talent was recognised from an early age when the then Taoiseach Eamonn De Valera complimented her singing at a function for the daughter of the governor of Mountjoy Jail. 'Sean Kavanagh was the governor at the time and his daughter was marrying a doctor and the reception was in the grounds of the prison,' explains Jean. 'It was a real society wedding and I was asked to sing at it, so I performed three songs and then returned back to my grandmother's shop. But while I was changing out of my good clothes someone called into the shop and said Mr Kavanagh had requested my presence at the wedding so back on went the good dress and over the road I went. 'I was only a child at the time so I was very excited when I was introduced to Dev, who told me he had really enjoyed my singing. 'For my grandmother, who was a staunch Fianna Fáil woman, the notion that Dev had praised her granddaughter was the greatest compliment she could get.' Jean's first award for singing came in the Under 12 category of the Girls' Solo Singing competition at the Dublin Feis Ceoil, which she won in 1943. This was the start of a very successful association with the event, at which she went on to win the Dramatic Cup for Operatic Singing twice. With her talent recognised, it was now a question of nurturing it so she went to study voice production with Dr Hans Waldemar Rosen, who developed her range and pitch over a ten-year period. As a guest performer with the Dublin Grand Opera Society she was a regular on RTE radio and television where she performed alongside both the Symphony and Light orchestras. 'It was at this time I worked with Harry Powell Lloyd who was a Covent Garden producer and he wanted me to go over to study at the London College of Music. 'I was awarded a scholarship to do this but my grandmother became ill, and as she had raised me, I couldn't leave her so I didn't go. 'There was then talk of me moving to Hamburg as I was considered to have a great Wagnerian singing voice but a fateful trip to Seapoint in Galway with my cousins, who lived in Athenry, put paid to that.' That date with destiny introduced Jean to Niall Joyce whom she went on to marry and set up home with in Circular Road, Tuam, where they raised their four children. 'We were married in 1961 and the crazy thing was I sang at six weddings in the week leading up to my own.' Best known for her church singing, Jean's contribution to the musical tapestry of Tuam life extends back to the thriving Grand Opera scene that was at its height in the early 1960s. She appeared with the Tuam Operatic Society in productions of Il Trovatore and Faust as well as The Merry Widow under the direction of Fr Gabriel Charles, who accompanied her on many occasions as organist at the Cathedral of the Assumption. 'I absolutely love singing in the Cathedral in Tuam, the acoustics are amazing, far better than Galway Cathedral where your voice just gets lost,' said Jean. 'I don't understand the modern obsession with amplification. I hate singing in front of a microphone but now they all seem to need one, when in a building with such wonderful acoustics as the Cathedral there is no need.' In 1999 Jean was awarded the high papal honour of the Bene Merente Medal in recognition of the 40 years she had performed as a soloist in Tuam Cathedral, an occasion which she still refers to as the highlight of her singing career. 'I didn't know about it until shortly before it was happening and even then I didn't know it was a papal honour, I thought they were going to give me a bit of silver or something. 'It was the highlight of my career and in many ways it's hard to believe it's 12 years ago. No one would expect a singer to be still performing after 69 years, least of all me, but here I am, still as passionate as ever.'[/private]