bernie nolan

Bernadette Therese Nolan (born 17th October 1960 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish singer and actress. She is best known for being the lead singer in the all sister girl group The Nolan’s. Which together, had hits such as ‘I’m in the mood for dancing’ ‘attention to me’ ‘don’t make waves’ and ‘gotta pull myself together’ The Nolan’s sold millions of records worldwide including japan where the sold over 9 million albums. Bernie joined her sisters in their group when she was 13 in 1974. And she also wrote 2 tracks for the album portrait, released in 1982. The Nolan’s are best known for disco classic ‘I’m in the mood for dancing’ which is still loved by millions today. The group has received over twenty gold, silver and platinum discs with album and single sales topping over 8 million. They also supported Frank Sinatra on his world tour, and appeared on numerous shows including Top Of The Pops and It’s Cliff Richard. They also performed for the Queen Mother at the Royal Variety Performance in 1978. They’re also the first ever European act to win the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Music Festival, which they won with their hit, ‘Sexy Music’.

Bernie left the Nolan’s in 1994 to concentrate on her solo career, she released a solo album ‘all by myself’ in 2005, which has 12 tracks beautifully sung by Bernie herself. which includes a track written by her called better place which was written for her stillborn baby, Kate. Her solo career began in 1993 with her performance in the stage play The devil rides out She was a presenter on the BBC Saturday morning children’s show on the waterfront and in 2000 she joined the cast of the soap opera Brookside as Diane Murray after being spotted starring in the musical blood brothers. She left Brookside in 2002 and then was on ITV’s long running police drama series The bill, in which she acted as Sergeant Sheelagh Murphy. Bernie took part in the series The Games, on channel 4, focusing on fund raising for Alzheimer’s and children’s charities. She starred in the play Mum’s the word in 2007 and featured in the Iceland food adverts with her sister, Coleen. She has appeared in numerous West End shows and musicals, such as ‘Blood Brothers’ as Mrs. Johnstone and ‘Flash dance the musical’ which she played the role of Hannah Owens. Four of the sisters (Bernie, Linda, Maureen and Denise) also share a Guinness World Record (2007) for the most siblings to share the same role in the same show (Mrs. Johnstone in ‘Blood Brothers’). Bernie has also been in many pantomimes which include playing the fairy godmother in Cinderella in Manchester opera house. And is soon to be playing malevolent in Beauty at the beast at the Gordon Craig theatre in Stevenage.

In 2004, She released the single 'Machushla' with the proceeds going to charity. It peaked at #38 in the uk singles chart in march 2004. Regarding this release, lorraine kelly wrote "I wouldn't have expected anything else from one of the hardest working women in showbiz". In 2007 Bernie and her family lost her sister Linda’s husband Brian in September, he was a huge part of the family and he and Linda were married for 26 Years and he was the Nolans’ manager years before, Linda left the group after they decided they didn’t want him as their manager anymore. They also lost their mother Maureen to Alzheimers on New Years Eve. Bernie now Sponsors the Alzheimer’s charity. In 2009, she joined sisters Maureen, Linda and Coleen for a reunion tour for the 30th anniversary of their hit ‘I’m in the mood for dancing’, and together, released a CD ‘I’m in the mood again’ including some of their greatest hits, as well as some of their favourite diva anthems, and a DVD of the live concert in Manchester Apollo. In April 2011, Bernie, alongside three of her sisters Maureen, Linda and Coleen, released an autobiography ‘Survivors- Our Story- From Us To You With Love’. In April 2010, shortly after being in the show ‘pop star to opera star’, coming second by only 0.2% of the vote, Bernie was diagnosed with breast cancer, Thankfully she was amazingly strong and kept positive all along that she would beat the battle and she would not let cancer beat her, giving a series of positive interviews to support and inspire others suffering. Her determination showed others that they shouldn’t be afraid and to stay strong, she’s inspirational! In October 2010 she had her last bit of chemotherapy just before her 50th birthday and was finally cancer free after the tumors had amazingly shrunk to hardly anything in size! In January 2011 Bernie had a mastectomy, then afterwards went on to play ‘Cora’ in calendar girls! Bernie has been with Drummer Steve Doneathy since 1993, they married in 1996 in Lancashire and they have a daughter, Erin.