By
Caitriona Gaffney
Last updated at 3:46 AM on 27th March 2011
Singing sensation Mary Byrne is living off her savings,
despite landing a €1million (£890,000) record deal at the beginning of the year.
The former Tesco shopworker revealed that, despite her
fame and the X Factor tours of Britain and Ireland, she has only been paid
£7,000 since she became an overnight celebrity last August.
Mary – who has been dubbed the Ballyfermot belter – is
touring and earns £5,000 per show but she has yet to be paid.
Firm friends: Mary Byrne with her daughter Debbie, who is helping her pay the bills. The singer has only been paid £7,000 since she became an overnight celebrity last August
Her
daughter Debbie is also dipping into savings to pay the rent on their home and
cover the domestic bills.
Mary, 51, is said to have earned a five-figure sum when
she opened the Arnotts sale in December.
Although the star’s record deal was a major investment
and vote of confidence in her by music mogul Simon Cowell, her bank account is
yet to reap the dividends.
Mary, who has just released her debut album Mine & Yours, said: ‘I haven’t got a penny. I did two gigs in England and I think I
got seven grand for it but I haven’t received anything so far.
‘I know there’s going be so much from the album. There
will be an advance from the album but I haven’t seen any of that. And then I
have the X Factor tour but I won’t get that until the tour is finished. I
haven’t actually got anything.
‘I’m the still the same as before, except with the extra seven grand from the two gigs.’
Since quitting her job as a cashier in the Ballyfermot
branch of Tesco, Mary has been relying on her savings.
High note: Mary shows off her debut album, Mine & Yours – but she has yet to see money from sales
‘I haven’t got a steady income at the moment,’ she said.
‘I had a few bob saved and the daughter had a few bob saved so she’s been
paying the rent, and gas and electricity bills. When I get sorted we’ll work it out. We know
where we stand, no debts – thank God.’
Once her money comes through, Mary plans to buy the house
she is living in from the council as well as splash out on a range of domestic
appliances including a fridge, vacuum cleaner and washing machine.
She said: ‘If I make the few bob that’s definitely the
first thing I’ll do and put it in her (Debbie’s) name. I want to buy a washing
machine, dryer and a Hoover. That’s my dream. A small dream but it means a lot
to me.’
Sensation: Mary singing on the X Factor
Since Debbie’s dad Robbie Walsh walked out on Mary when
her daughter was a baby, Mary’s life has been a series of ups and downs.
She takes anti-depressants to help manage her depression,
which was brought on by the menopause and says that she owes her recent singing
success to the medication.
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ said Mary.
‘I went through the change of life and they offered me
HRT.
‘I didn’t want them so they asked what else I wanted. I didn’t know, so we
had a talk, anti-depressants came up and I’m living proof that anti-depressants
work. I have no shame. I have no shame whatsoever.’
Mary said that she
would never have had the confidence to audition for the X Factor last summer if
her doctor had not suggested the tablets.
‘If I wasn’t on anti-depressants I wouldn’t have went for
the X Factor,’ she claims.
‘Because without them I was so low on myself. I was
crying for my mother. I was crying for everybody.
‘It was all just the hormones because of the change of
life that caused the depression to set in. And I didn’t know the thyroid can
cause depression too.
‘I’ve been on them nearly three years now and it’s changed
my life. I talk to my doctor regularly and I feel fantastic.
‘They are
fantastic. But it’s about your own soul and your frame of mind as well.’
Continued here:
X Factor singer Mary Byrne: ‘I’ve only earned £7,000 and I’m living on my savings’