Nominees

Philomena grew up in Northern Ireland. Her venture as a singer was with the popular Old Cross Céilí Band, whom she sang with as a dare, but stayed with the group. After a number of years, in the 1960s the band was renamed The Country Flavour. They kept this name for about 12 years before Philomena formed the Ramblin' Men in 1974. She regularly toured with Ray Lynam in 1975 and they recorded many duets together and even garnered considerable success with them. Probably their most popular being "My Elusive Dreams" which would go on to be mentioned in The Pogues' song, "A Pair of Brown Eyes".

In 1975, Begley had a huge hit with her version of Billie Jo Spears' hit song "Blanket on the Ground" which took her to the top of the charts in Ireland. Spears also released the song in the UK and in Ireland at the same time, however it was Philomena's version that received the highest sales. By 1977 she was undertaking a major tour of the United States and in 1978 she was invited to sing at the Grand Ole Opry by Porter Wagoner. Since then she has returned annually to Nashville, been a guest of honour at the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York and has sung at both the Grand Old Opry and Carnegie Hall.

Begley is constantly regarded as the 'Queen of Country Music' in Ireland and sometimes in Great Britain. One of Begley's biggest fans is Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell, and he once quoted

"When Philomena sings a song you believe her.....you feel that she's experienced every emotion she expresses. That's a unique gift for a singer and certainly one of the qualities that has kept her at the top of the ladder over the years.".