The Nolans
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The Nolans, sometimes billed as The Nolan Sisters are siblings born in Ireland and the United Kingdom who reached the peak of their success as a singing act in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
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[edit] Career
The sisters were born to entertainers and their first public performances were as part of family act along with their parents and two brothers. Eventually the sisters emerged as an act and broke away from the rest of the family for their performances.
The line-up of the group has changed several times during the years they have performed together, but consists of sisters:
- Anne (born November 12, 1950)
- Denise (born 1952)
- Maureen (born June 14, 1954)
- Linda (born February 23, 1959)
- Bernadette (born Bernadette Therese Nolan, October 17, 1960) and
- Coleen (born March 12, 1965).
The family lived in Ireland until 1962, and all of the children were born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland; with the exception of Coleen who was born in Blackpool in England.
The five eldest sisters became popular on variety programs on British television during the early 1970s. Denise left the group to follow a solo career, after the sisters participated in a successful tour supporting Engelbert Humperdinck in the United States. Anne also left the group after she married and was replaced by the youngest sister Coleen.
As "The Nolan Sisters" they reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart in 1978 with a Greatest Hits compilation album, which was an unusual situation because until this time none of their singles had reached the charts. The first hit single "Spirit, Body and Soul" reached number 34 in 1979. Their next single "I'm In The Mood For Dancing" embraced the current disco craze, and reached number 3. 1979 also saw the girls participate in A Song for Europe with the Hawaiian-flavoured Harry my Honolulu Lover. They came 4th.
Over the next few years they continued to have hit albums with Nolans (number 15 in 1980), Making Waves (number 11 in 1980) and Portrait (number 7 in 1982). They also achieved several hit singles "Don't Make Waves" (number 12 in 1980), "Gotta Pull Myself Together" (number 9 in 1980), "Who's Gonna Rock You" (number 12 in 1980), "Attention to Me" (number 9 in 1981), "Chemistry" (number 15 in 1981) and "Don't Love Me Too Hard" (number 14 in 1982).
They achieved success in Europe, Australia and New Zealand but their biggest success was in Japan where several of their songs reached number one. They are famous for outselling The Beatles in Japan.
During these years Anne returned to the group, and for some time they toured with five sisters. Later the lineup changed again when Linda left the group to pursue a solo cabaret based career which also encompassed glamour modelling. Each of the six sisters has recorded solo projects with mediocre success. By 1994, the ever changing line-up had dwindled to a duet of Anne and Maureen.
As of 2004, the line-up consists of Maureen and Anne, together with Anne's daughter Amy and her cousin Julia. Their act is largely cabaret, and they perform throughout Europe in clubs and also, particularly, in Japan.
The other sisters have continued to work in showbusiness. Bernadette is an actress who has played a continuing role in the police drama The Bill, and also had long term part in Brookside. Coleen is a television presenter, and Denise and Linda have toured with a production of Blood Brothers after completing a successful West End run in London. Maureen has now taken over the role of Mrs Johnstone in the West End version of Blood Brothers.
