Adele King
| Adele King | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ireland |
Adele King (born Adele Condron-King, 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:
- Hunky Dory with Dory Previn for Noel Pearson,
- the musical Can't Stop the Music at the Gaiety Theatre,
- the musical Annie at the Olympia Theatre, in which she played the role of 'Miss Hannigan',
- the play Extremities by William Mastrosimone at the Cork Opera House[2] in which she played the role of 'Marjorie',
- the episodic play The Vagina Monologues at the SFX City Theatre,
- Sive by John B. Keane in its tour of Ireland, in which she played the part of 'Mena Glavin',
- The Snowman at The Helix, in which she was the narrator, and
- Dirty Dusting at the Gaiety Theatre [1]
The opening night of Menopause: The Musical due to take place at the Tivoli on Tuesday 27 April 2010, was cancelled after Twink was hospitalised.[3]
[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 The Late Late Show, being the subject of a tribute on 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.
She also was the subject of a weekend visit by the television programme Livin' with Lucy with Lucy Kennedy.
Twink described the Irish singer, Linda Martin, as a "cunt" during a tirade in May 2010. The two had been friends for 30 years but both said afterwards that they had no plans to speak to each other again.[4][5]
She won TV3's Celebrity Head Chef in 2011, receiving €10,000 for charity as a result.[6]
[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[7] 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.[8]
[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[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] She recorded a hostile message on his answering machine[12] 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". King went on to threaten Agnew with denial of contact with his daughters if photographs of his new family appeared in public.[13][14]
In 2010 Twink's house was ultimately not repossessed after running into arrears on her mortgage repayments.[15]
Twink has pet dogs, cats, birds, and a donkey.[10] She lives with her daughters in Knocklyon, Dublin.
[edit] References
- ^ "The Curse of VIP", Daily Mail (London), 31 January 2009
- ^ a controversial play concerning the issue of rape
- ^ Show pulled as Twink hospitalised. RTÉ. 27 April 2010.
- ^ How I overheard 'pal' Twink's two-hour four-letter rant about me to cast Herald.ie, 2010-05-21.
- ^ Feuding Twink and Linda keep their distance Irish Independent, 2010-08-25.
- ^ "Adele 'Twink' King wins Celebrity Head Chef". RTÉ Ten. Retrieved on 30 July 2011.
- ^ School website
- ^ Nolan, Lorna (October 7, 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.
- ^ Conflict of interest commentary
- ^ a b In an interview with Eamonn Dunphy, RTÉ Radio 1, 29 September 2007
- ^ " a woman scorned"
- ^ http://www.georgiecasey.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/twink_voicemail.mp3
- ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/13/phone_diatribe/ The Register
- ^ Sarah Carey: Take it as read, if you get mad you sure won't get even — The Sunday Times newspaper article, 3 September 2006
- ^ "Twink faces fight to keep her luxury family home". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/twink-faces-fight-to-keep-her-luxury-family-home-2064757.html.
[edit] External links
- Family photo of Adele, Chloe and Naomi Agnew and dog Mipsey [2]
![[2]](http://www.photographer.ie/pictures/People/Adele%20and%20Family.JPG){kind=link}