![]() ![]() “I stopped gigging for several years as Hannah needed a lot of care and being with her was my number one priority. She was being tube-fed and on constant medication. “We are all born with four pumping chambers, but Hannah only developed one-and-a-half. “Basically, it means she has only half a working heart,” says Karen, who lives in the village of Lisbane outside Comber. She joined the Cash Returns band in 2017 after spending several years at home caring for her youngest daughter, Hannah (8) who was born with severe congenital heart disease and diagnosed with DILV - ‘Double inlet left ventricle with transpose arteries’. ![]() “It’s busy all the time now, which is great,” enthuses the just-turned 40-year-old who gave up her ‘day’ job working as an accounts manager for a mortgage company to look after her daughters and concentrate on singing full-time. Lewis Square,” says the singer who had just returned from a hectic weekend singing in three different festivals in the Republic before packing again for a family holiday in Spain. “I grew up in east Belfast and spent much of my childhood listening to country music with my mum and dad, so I really can’t wait to play in C.S. The band plays to sell-out audiences all over the Britain, Ireland and, more recently, Europe, thrilling fans with Cash classics such as Folsom Prison Blues, Walk the Line, Ring of Fire and Jackson, but also with new songs such as Hotel Yorba and The Highway Man Blues, both of which made the Top 10 in the Irish Country charts.įor Karen, bringing the show home to east Belfast for the first time in this, the 10th anniversary of the EastSide Arts festival, will be extra special, having grown up in the area and still feeling the nostalgic pull of familiarity and sense of place. One half of the award-winning Cash Returns show, Karen sings with JP Mac ('The Man in Black') – the pair having been hailed as ‘Best Tribute Band’ at the Hot Country TV Awards and recently picking up a ‘Best Tribute Show’ award at the Northern Ireland Country Music Awards for the second year running. The blonde Co Down mum-of-two is smoothing down her dark wig and fluffing out her vintage dresses for her next outing as the talented wife, soulmate and duet partner of country music’s great Johnny Cash, as part of the EastSide Arts Festival tomorrow. SHE has given herself a fat lip with the microphone and been stung in the armpit by a bee while on stage, but when channelling her alter-ego, June Carter, the show must always go on for Karen Martin. ![]()
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