Sisters on cloud nine after hitting No 1 on iTunes

THREE talented sisters from Bandon are celebrating after their debut album of festive songs climbed to No 1 on the iTunes Irish album charts just a day after being released.

Angela, Mary-Jo and Ella Ryan who perform as The Ryan Sisters recently released their debut CD A Christmas Collection and appeared on the front page of The Southern Star.

Mary-Jo said they are delighted with the response to it so far. ‘We had put it on pre-order for two weeks and then released the album at midnight on December 1st and when we woke Tuesday morning it was the No 1 in the country genre,’ said Mary Jo.

‘It was also No 8 in the overall album charts for iTunes in Ireland, but by 4pm that day we had gone to No 1, which was amazing.’

With the assistance of well-known musician Conor O’Sullivan, they recorded their vocals at home at the start of November and sent them to him at his studio where he brought several talented musicians on board to provide the music.

Despite not being able to perform gigs over the last 10 months, the sisters instead held their own online gigs for charity from their parent’s yard during the summer months.

‘This was a bit of craic and nostalgia for us because our dad used to be a musician and sometimes he would set up his equipment outside and we would sing with him.

‘Our live stream performances were extremely successful throughout the summer with people tuning in from all around  the world every week and we have many amazing memories that we will cherish forever as a result of those Facebook live gigs.’

The sisters recently announced that those ‘Thursday Night Live’ concerts raised €3,260 for Marymount University Hospice and Cancer Connect. ‘We want to thank every single person for helping us to raise such an incredible amount of money and we also want to thank all our special guests who contributed to some great nights of ceol agus craic in the garden,’ said Mary Jo.

The CD is available to buy in CD format throughout West Cork from O’Farrell’s, Warren Allen Collections, Ho Kee, Kevin O’Leary Centra (all in Bandon), Scannell’s Pharmacy Ballineen, Enniskeane Post Office, Options Boutique Clonakilty, Ross Oil Whites Gates Enniskeane and D Oil in Dunmanway.