| Adele King | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ireland |
Adele King (born Adele Condron-King, 4 April 1951) is an Irish entertainer better known as Twink from her time as a member of a group called Maxi, Dick and Twink which was a girl band in Ireland in the late 1960s and 1970s. She is Chloë Agnew's mother.
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Adele King began singing and acting at the age of five. She was a Gaiety Kiddie and worked in pantomime with performers such as Jimmy O'Dea, Milo O'Shea and Maureen Potter. She was also a Young Dublin Singer.
She has spent more than 30 years in Dublin's theatres: 26 years in the Gaiety Theatre, two years in the Point Theatre and five years in the Olympia Theatre. At the Olympia Theatre she co-produced and co-wrote much of the shows. She has been described as Ireland's 'Panto Queen'.[1]
Twink has had lead roles in many theatrical productions in Ireland, including:
The opening night of Menopause: The Musical due to take place at the Tivoli on Tuesday 27 April 2010, was cancelled after Twink was hospitalised.[3]
Twink has appeared on Irish television regularly since the late 1960s. She has starred in her own series Twink on RTÉ. She spent ten years on Play the Game, and has made many appearances as a guest on a wide range of programmes, including RTÉ's The Late Late Show, being the subject of a tribute on that show in 2005. In 2003 she took part in RTÉ's Celebrity Farm.
She says that the highlight of her career was being the guest at the Point Theatre at a Perry Como concert.
Twink won a Jacob's Award for her performance in her 1981 Christmas Light Entertainment Special on RTÉ Two.
She also was the subject of a weekend visit by the television programme Livin' with Lucy with Lucy Kennedy.
Twink described the Irish singer, Linda Martin, as a "cunt" during a tirade in May 2010. The two had been friends for 30 years but both said afterwards that they had no plans to speak to each other again.[4][5]
She won TV3's Celebrity Head Chef in 2011, receiving €10,000 for charity as a result.[6]
Twink has written an agony aunt page for over five years for the Irish magazine TV Now.
Twink established a performance school in summer 2002, the Adele King Theatre School[7] in Castleknock and Greenhills. Pupils of the school have appeared on television, in films, and in commercials in Ireland and abroad. The school did not re-open for the 2008 autumn term.[8]
Twink was accused of a conflict of interest over her marks for a contestant, known to her, on the talent show Class Act. Her reaction[9] was unique:
"If Osama bin Laden's son was on the programme and he threatened to send a big squad to my house if I didn't put his child through, I wouldn't."
Twink married oboist David Agnew in 1983 and had two children, Chloe in 1989, who later sang with the group Celtic Woman, and Naomi in 1994.
Twink's marriage ended after 21 years, in October 2004.[10] In 2006, David Agnew (aged 45) had a baby with clarinettist Ruth Hickey (29). This prompted an infamous phone call from King (54) to ex-husband Agnew.[11] She recorded a hostile message on his answering machine[12] which appeared afterwards on the internet. The recording contained coarse and abusive language, such as "zip up your mickey" (Irish slang for penis), and Twink insulted Hickey and the newborn infant, calling them "whore" and "bastard". King went on to threaten Agnew with denial of contact with his daughters if photographs of his new family appeared in public.[13][14]
In 2010 Twink's house was ultimately not repossessed after running into arrears on her mortgage repayments.[15]
Twink has pet dogs, cats, birds, and a donkey.[10] She lives with her daughters in Knocklyon, Dublin.
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