Music
Mary Coughlan
Irish singer Mary Coughlan, often compared to Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, sings with a whisky-blurred, husky voice and a wry, unapologetic wit. For lovers of jazz, blues and grown-up songs.
Key information
- When
- Thursday 18 March
- Where
- Exeter PhoenixGandy Street, EX4 3LSMore at this venueMap
- Price
- £30
Dates and times · tap a time to book
Who's playing
Mary Coughlan
Musician from County Galway · folk
About this event
Please note, this event has been rescheduled from Thu 01 Oct 2026.
“Honey-voiced Irish National Treasure” MOJO Magazine
“Mary is a living link between Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse” Uncut Magazine
Mary Coughlan is often described as the greatest female vocalist that Ireland has ever produced, standing alongside some of the world’s most iconic jazz singers. She is unique in blending whisky-blurred, smoke-seared, husky notes with the laconic wit of Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee. She draws the line of deep, down and dirty blues singers back to Bessie Smith with the sardonic, bitter-sweet defiance and despair of Edith Piaf. Yet Mary Coughlan delivers it all in a delicious and unapologetic Irish drawl: sceptical, rueful, mournful and melting and ardent for love.
Mary Coughlan is one of our greatest singers because over 40 years she has made the most grown-up, uncompromising, wholly personal yet utterly universal music on either side of the Atlantic about what goes on between men and women.
An AGMP Concerts presentation.
Venue: Auditorium, Exeter Phoenix
