Maxi

Who is Maxi?

Maxi is an Irish radio disc-jockey and producer; actor, journalist, and singer. Her real name is Irene McCoubrey. She was nicknamed Maxi in school because of the "McC" letters in her name. She came to fame in Ireland as part of the popular girl band, Maxi, Dick and Twink, in the late 1960s.

She grew up in Dublin's Harold's Cross. At school she sang in the Little Dublin Singers before joining the Young Dublin Singers. It was in that choir that she was teamed with Barbara Dixon and Adele King - Dick and Twink respectively. The trio toured Ireland, the UK and Canada and recorded two singles. They also worked a session singers in Motown studios in Detroit, Michigan, before disbanding.

Maxi pursued a career with Danny Doyle and Music Box before going solo. She represented Ireland twice in the Eurovision Song Contest: in 1973 singing "Do I Dream", and again in 1981 with Sheeba and their entry "Horoscopes".

During her singing days she was under contract to the Holiday Inn group of hotels in Canada and the USA as well as headlining her own shows in such far-flung shores as Florida and Greece.

In the late 1970s, Maxi became part of the all-girl trio Sheeba, with Marion Fossett and Frances Campbell. After making several records, appearing all over Ireland and Europe, the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, Sheeba's career came to halt following a road accident in 1982 in Mayo in the west of Ireland.