It's been a while since a blog update and we're glad to have been able to do a virtual interview with the lovely Helen O'Shea!
We read from your Spotify bio that you had to travel a lot due to your career in medicine but went back to pursuing your love for music. Can you tell us more about that?
I started singing as a young child - first performing at a family wedding at the age of 13. Shortly after that I sang in a duo in high school and I was invited to join a local band at 18 but my dad said no and sent me off to medical school to get a "real job".
Then cut to many years later when my father was tragically killed in a car crash, somewhere in the sea of grief, the dream to sing was rekindled. In 2011, I took to the stage in Montreal to sing an acapella version of "The Rose" at a fundraiser at my place of work, McGill University and the rest is history. On moving to Princeton that same year, the family decided that I would stay home for a while to help her kids adjust to the move and my husband suggested that the time was finally right for me to explore my singing dream and here we are, multiple CDs / EPs and singles later - singing, writing and recording songs, performing solo or with my two bands, producing shows and creating events for some of my favorite causes.
You have certainly come a long way! You’ve just released a new single as well, where you collaborated with a few other artists. Can you walk us through the process and how the whole thing came about?
"Prinetime" - Released May 21st 2021 (Helen McNamara O'Shea & Marc Swersky)
When the wonderful John Prine passed away unexpectedly, I was devastated as was much of the world and most of America. Since I had lost my own father instantly in a car crash, I felt such empathy for his lovely family and I ended up writing a poem about his legacy which I published on Instagram a year after his passing. We had just finished recording for my new EP "Know You're Enough" but my producer and cowriter Marc Swersky called me when he saw the poem, asked if I had written in and then asked if we could turn it into a song right away. I knew which lyrics were the chorus and how I wanted that to sound so I sang the chorus down the phone to him. Within a couple of hours he had the rest of the music done and then I started working on editing down the lyrics from six verses to three and reshaping them to fit the song. Within six days, we were back in the studio - with the most wonderful musicians (Marc Swersky; John Mazzeo; Joe Deninzon; Santo Rizzolo) - for what I can only describe as a surreal, respectful spiritual day in honor of Mr Prine. In the end, we were all so happy with the song that we moved "Unbecoming" off of the EP to make room for "Prinetime" and I am thrilled to say that it has quickly become my band "The Shanakees" favorite song to play live!
You have a pretty comprehensive discography. For listeners who are only discovering your music now, how would you describe your music to them?
My genre of music is classified as Alternative Folk on Apple Music but in reality, it is what I like to call "AmeriCeltiCana" - Americana with a Celtic twist!
Which three songs would you recommend for them to listen to?
"Unbecoming" (Helen McNamara O'Shea & Marc Swersky)
This song was originally written as an ode to women who had spent their lives putting parents, partners and children's needs before their own - encouraging them to find their true selves before it was too late but as we discussed the song in interviews, it turned out that many men felt exactly the same way so now it is an ode to all of us!
"Someone Is Waiting" (Helen McNamara O'Shea & Marc Swersky)
When I took time out from medicine to take care of my kids, it was always expected that I would go back one day so when I met Marc Swersky and decided to pursue a career in music which was my lifelong dream, not everyone was happy for me. One of my biggest supporters during this lonely time was my Aunt Catherine, my godfather Steve's wife, who I adored. Way too soon Catherine was taken from us - ovarian cancer - way too young - but in her last days, she was still thinking only of others and not herself. I wanted to find a way to help her through that final transition from across the ocean here - and so Catherine's Song became Someone Is Waiting...
"Only One" (Helen McNamara O'Shea & Marc Swersky)
I always remembered a conversation I had with my husband during one of our job searches - he would always say that all you need is one. And when my kids would come home from school with stories of falllings out with friends, I would always say that all you need is one good friend to get you through it all. And then I got older and wiser and I realized that not everyone is everyone's cup of tea and as Maya Angelou said "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time" This was so liberating - as is much of her wisdom - because we do not need to give people multiple chances to appreciate what we bring to the table - "if it's not your door, don't know any more, you're too good to ignore, don't you know" - yes, I have just realised that Only One is a song about self emancipation!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. Any messages for the Female Indie Musicians Community?
I want everyone to know that it is never too late to dream, sometimes the dream comes out of the most challenging times in your life, a bend in the road is not the end of the road and if you desperately want to sing, please don't die with the music still inside you..."
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