After taking a 10-year break from recording, Frances Black, one of Ireland’s top vocalists, makes her long-awaited return with Stronger. Her pure vocal tone and energetic, pop-minded delivery showcase an artist stronger and more passionate than ever about her music. “This is an album of all my favorite songs that I have sung through the years. I have loved and lived these songs, they all tell the stories of my life,” adds Black. A former member of Arcady and The Black Family, Black made her solo debut with two tracks on the million-selling, multi-artist compilation Woman’s Heart in 1993. An album-related tour with Maura O’Connell, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, Sinead Lohan, and her sister, Mary Black, broke all of Ireland’s box office records. While Black’s debut solo album, Talk to Me (released in 1994), sold over 100,000 copies and spent eight weeks at the top of Ireland’s music charts, her releases The Sky Road (1995), The Smile on Your Face (1996), and Don’t Get Me Wrong (1998) further established her as an internationally known performer. “The sweetest voice of Ireland.” —Nanci Griffith “The music she makes is tender, sometimes melancholy, and yet her voice, walking a line between her sister’s combined with the timbre of Nanci Griffith’s, is expressive of emotions behind or perhaps beyond the lyrics of the songs she chooses to sing.” —All Music Guide
