be real life Von Trapps became more of an reality in the early 70s, when the family put together their first album.  Tommy and Maureen, along with their sons Tommy Jr. And Brian, and daughters Maureen, Denise, Bernadette, Linda, Anne and Coleen, would become The Singing Nolans.  Their self titled debut album would be recorded within a week and be released on the Nevis label and sold exclusively in the clubs were the family performed.  The family would also record a Tommy Nolan Senior composition, ‘Blackpool’, which was sold within the Blackpool football club, and is still often used today pre match.

Everyone began to notice that the focus was all on the singing daughters, and mum, dad and brothers decided to step down and let the sisters work alone as The Nolan Sisters.  Denise, Anne, Maurren, Bernadette, Linda and Coleen were now going to take the family name to great heights.

The Nolan Sisters made their  debut performance on the Cliff Richard show in 1974, performing ‘Now I’m Stuck On You’, a song which would back the girl’s first single, ‘But I Do’, released the same year on the EMI label.

In the mid-70’s the girls would perform cover versions of hits, as a group of five and sometimes six, when young Coleen was allowed to join her sisters.  Anne, Denise, Bernadette, Linda and Maureen would be signed the the Target label and recorded their debut album as The Nolan Sisters in 1978.  It would be an album of cover versions including, ‘God Only Knows’, ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue’ and ‘Without You’ to mention a few.  The album would simply be titled ‘20 Giant Hits’ and did exactly what it said on the tin - gave the listener Nolan versions of 20 giant hits.  The album was a big success reaching #3 on the UK album charts. Prior to ‘20 Giant Hits’, the girls had actually recorded an album in 1975, which was released on the Hanover Grand (the groups management at the time) label and sold only at The London Room club, Dury Lane, London, and is now considered the most collectable of The Nolans’ memorabilia.  The album was recorded live and featured all the songs that were performed at the venue.  It was recorded in the studio, live.

One highlight of the girls career was supporting Frank Sinatra on his UK tour in 1975.  They would also join Rolf Harris on tour to South Africa.

By 1977, Denise wasn’t happy with the pop shift the group had taken.  Though she enjoyed recording ‘20 Giant Hits’, she was craving a career performing Jazz and ballads.  She left the band in early 1979, and the Nolans were now a five.

For their next album, the girls recorded some original material as well as some cover versions.  The Nolan Sisters by now, had signed to the Epic label, and were now working with song writers Ben Findon, Mike Myers, and Robert Puzey.  The girls three albums (Nolan Sisters, Making Waves and Portrait) were to be produced by Ben Findon and Nicky Graham.  Findon would produced the girls more softer pop/ballad tracks (‘Don’t Make Waves’, Gotta Pull Myself Together’) while Graham produced the more deeper disco tracks (‘Chemistry’, ‘Who’s Gonna Rock You’).  

The Nolan Sisters album was released in 1979, and would produce two singles. First of all was ‘Spirit, Body And Sole’ which was a minor hit in the UK. The second single would go on to be the groups biggest of their career, ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’, which would sell over 600,000 copies in Japan alone.

By this time, Anne, the eldest of the Nolan sisters, had fallen pregnant.  She decided to take a break from the group, and young Coleen would step up and take her place with a more permanent role.  The group were now simply called The Nolans.

‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’ finally broke the girls through onto the singles charts, and the following years would prove to be a very successful time for the group.  They were back in the studio in 1980, to record their ‘Making Waves’ album, which is considered one of their finest outputs to date, featuring the hit singles ‘Gotta Pull Myself Together’, ‘Attention To Me’, Don’t Make Waves’ and ‘Who’s Gonna Rock You’. ‘Sexy Music’ would top the Japanese charts and became The Nolans’ third number one there, following ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’ and ‘Gotta Pull Myself Together’.

Linda and Coleen would go on to lend their vocals to The Young And Moody Band, on the track ‘Don’t Do That’, which peaked at #63 in the UK charts. Meanwhile, The Nolans were also busy working on their next album, ‘Portrait’, released in 1982, which reached number 7 on the UK albums chart, and would spawn the groups final hit singles, ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Don’t Love Me Too Hard’.  Another track lifted from the album, ‘Crashing Down’, failed to chart.

The demand the bands new material was that high in Japan, that an early version of the ‘Portrait’ was distributed in 1981 with early mixes, and was titled ‘Don’t Love Me Too Hard’.  A more polished version, with additional material was issued in the UK in 1982 as the ‘Portrait’ album we now know.

By the back end of 1982, Anne had returned to the group, and The Nolans would release a compilation album, ‘Altogether’, featuring their greatest hits and a new single, ‘Dragonfly’ which failed to chart in the UK.  ‘Dragonfly’ was produced by the British songwriter Tim Friese-Greene, best known for his work with Talk Talk and Tight Fit.

In 1983, The Nolans were set to release their next single, ‘Dressed To Kill’.  The highly anticipated track was removed from charts with suspicion of chart rigging.  Limited edition posters were issued only with singles that were distributed to stores that recorded chart sales, with the girls fan club members being told of the stores selling this collectable.  The single entered highly in the charts, but was withdrawn to the girls disappointment.  ‘Dressed To Kill’ was a shift to 80’s dance scene, and the girls had a much more tougher look and sound produced by Robin Smith.

Shortly after the ‘Dressed To Kill’ scandal, Linda quit the group to pursue a solo career.  She would be dubbed the “naughty Nolan” after the release of her risque publicity photographs.

The Nolans would go steady as a foursome until Coleen left in 1994.  The girls would put out another two albums in the UK, ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ on the Towerbell label, which peaked at #39 in 1984, and ‘Tenderly’ in 1986, which failed to chart, due to the lack of promotion from Spartan Records.  ‘Tenderly’ was released to coincide with the girls UK tour, which proved unsuccessful, and one single was released, 'Let's spend the night together', a stand alone non album track.

In 1987, The Nolans would sign to a 6 album deal with Japanese label, Teichiku. The girls released various albums of new material, available exclusive to the Japanese Market, where they continued to enjoy success.

Coleen would marry Shane Ritchie in 1990, and quit the group in 1994 to settle down and have her baby, while Bernie left to pursue a solo career in 1995 (starring in Brookside and The Bill), and Maureen and Anne would carry on The Nolans as a duo.

The Nolans were back in the UK charts in 1995, witch a re recorded version of ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’, which peaked at #51.  This would be the girls last UK chart placing.  

In 2000, Maureen’s daughter, Amy and family friend Julia Duckworth would join the line up, and along with Anne and Maureen they would concentrate on performing live for venues at the likes of Butlins.  The line up would last five years, when the group finally disbanded in 2005.

On 16 June 2009, the original foursome that took the group to it’s heights announced they were reforming. Bernie, Linda, Coleen and Maureen are to kick of their ‘I’m In The Mood Again’ tour in October, and perform  gigs across the UK and Ireland.

The Nolans are and always have been a truly entertaining act, making countless TV appearances, and magical pop/dance records.  

The Nolans.  Say the name to anyone and they are embraced with thoughts of 70s disco and a certain floor filler that is ‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’.  They would probably think of 6, 5 or 4 beautiful young women, who oozed niceness from head to toe; clean, charming and a family!  If anyone remembers any of this when they hear the mention of The Nolans, then they wouldn’t be wrong at all.

The Nolans are one of the most charming and entertaining girl groups of all time.  Long before there were Spice Girls, Bananarama, Girls Aloud and Sugar Babes, there were The Nolans.  A family of sisters, who came over from Dublin to sunny Blackpool in 1962.  Parents Tommy and Maureen were singers in their own right, and would later introduce their eager children into the act.  Their kids loved nothing more than to visit their local cinema and watch The Sound Of Music, and pretend to be the Von Trapps on they way home.  The dream to