Tina's career began after winning a
talent contest at
Butlins Skegness. She sang with the Mexicans
showband from 1966 to 1968. but was a number 1 hit in the Irish charts. Prior to this Tina had hits in Ireland with ''
I Don't Know How to Love Him, number 1, 1971; Tell Me What's the Matter
, number 15, 1972 and When Morning Has Come'', number 20, 1973. Tina almost represented Ireland at the Eurovision in 1973 as she was flown out to Luxembourg to replace singer
Maxi when a dispute about the live arrangement of the song had arisen in rehearsals. Ultimately, Maxi agreed to perform the preferred arrangement by RTE musical director Colman Pearce and Tina was offered the 1974 contest. After her Eurovision appearance Tina remained a popular live and TV performer in Ireland and had further hits with
All Through the Night (a duet with
Glen Curtin), number 20 in 1975 and ''I'll Do It All Again'' which reached number 3 in 1976. Tina's German-language version of her Eurovision entry ''Hand auf's Herz
is available on the various artists CD 1000 Nadelstiche Vol 8'' issued on Bear Family records. ==Personal life==