Adele King

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Adele King
Born 4 April 1951
Ireland
Occupation Entertainer

Adele King (born Adele Condron-King on 4 April, 1951) is an Irish entertainer better known as Twink from her time as a member of a group called Maxi, Dick and Twink, which was a girl band in Ireland in the late 1960s and 1970s. She is Chloë Agnew's mother.

Contents

[edit] Entertainment

Adele King began singing and acting at the age of five. She was a Gaiety Kiddie and worked in pantomime with performers such as Jimmy O'Dea, Milo O'Shea and Maureen Potter. She was also a Young Dublin Singer.

She has spent more than 30 years in Dublin's theatres: 26 years in the Gaiety Theatre, two years in the Point Theatre and five years in the Olympia Theatre. At the Olympia Theatre she co-produced and co-wrote much of the shows. She has been described as Ireland's 'Panto Queen'.[1]

Twink has had lead roles[citation needed] in many theatrical productions in Ireland, including:

She also was the subject of a weekend visit by the television programme

[edit] Television

Twink has appeared on Irish television regularly since the late 1960s. She has starred in her own series Twink on RTÉ. She spent ten years on Play the Game, and has made many appearances as a guest on a wide range of programmes, including RTÉ's Late Late Show, being the subject of a tribute on the that show in 2005. In 2003 she took part in RTÉ's Celebrity Farm.

She says[citation needed] that the highlight of her career was being the guest at the Point Theatre at a Perry Como concert.

Twink won a Jacob's Award for her performance in her 1981 Christmas Light Entertainment Special on RTÉ Two.

[edit] Agony aunt

Twink has written[citation needed] an agony aunt page for over five years for the Irish magazine TV Now.

[edit] Theatre school

Twink established a performance school in summer 2002, the Adele King Theatre School[3] in Castleknock and Greenhills. Pupils of the school have appeared on television, in films, and in commercials in Ireland and abroad. The school did not re-open for the 2008 autumn term.[4]

[edit] Conflict of interest allegations

Twink was accused of a conflict of interest over her marks for a contestant, known to her, on the talent show Class Act. Her reaction[5] was unique:

"If Osama bin Laden's son was on the programme and he threatened to send a big squad to my house if I didn't put his child through, I wouldn't."

[edit] Private life

Twink married oboist David Agnew in 1983 and had two children, Chloe in 1989, who later sang with the group Celtic Woman, and Naomi in 1994.

Twink's marriage ended after 21 years, in October 2004.[6] In 2006, David Agnew (aged 45) had a baby with clarinettist Ruth Hickey (29). This prompted an infamous phone call from King (54) to ex-husband Agnew.[7] She recorded a hostile message on his answering machine[8] which appeared afterwards on the internet. The recording contained coarse and abusive language, such as "zip up your mickey" (Irish slang for penis), and Twink insulted Hickey and the newborn infant, calling them "whore" and "bastard", respectively. King went on to threaten Agnew with denial of contact with his daughters if photographs of his new family appeared in public.[9][10]

Twink loves animals and has pet dogs, cats, birds, and a donkey.[6] She lives with her daughters in Knocklyon, Dublin.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Curse of VIP", Daily Mail (London), 31 January 2009
  2. ^ a controversial play concerning the issue of rape
  3. ^ School website
  4. ^ Nolan, Lorna (October 07 2008). "Adele denies stage school has closed". Herald.ie. http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/adele-denies--stage-school-has-closed-1491923.html. Retrieved 2008-12-27. 
  5. ^ Conflict of interest commentary
  6. ^ a b In an interview with Eamonn Dunphy, RTÉ Radio 1, 29 September 2007
  7. ^ " a woman scorned"
  8. ^ http://www.georgiecasey.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/twink_voicemail.mp3
  9. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/13/phone_diatribe/ The Register
  10. ^ Sarah Carey: Take it as read, if you get mad you sure won't get evenThe Sunday Times newspaper article, 3 September 2006

[edit] External links

  • Family photo of Adele, Chloe and Naomi Agnew and dog Mipsey [2]