WHEN I was asked about who my hero was, the singer Frances Black is the person that immediately came to mind, because I feel that she has been an inspiration to me, and to other women.

This is partly because of her down-toearth, warm personality and beautiful voice, and partly because of the way she has dealt with her experience of alcohol and prescription drug addiction so gracefully.

Frances' strength of spirit and character comes through in the way that she was able to combine being a young mother of two children, with a very successful singing career, while also dealing with her lack of confidence, her addictions, the break-up of her first marriage, and her subsequent remarriage.

I think what touched me about Frances originally is her voice, because I find her singing to be very moving. The first song I heard of hers was 'Wall of Tears' on A Woman's Heart, and I thought it was really beautiful. It was 1992, and I had two very young children, and I remember being very touched by that whole album and the sentiments on it.

Frances grew up on Charlemont Street in Dublin, and she was the youngest of a very musical family. Her mum was from the Liberties and she loved to sing, while her father was from Rathlin Island, and played the mandolin and banjo. Frances was very shy when she was younger, and that may be partly why I identify with her, because I'm not that confident myself, even though I might appear to be. I suppose we all have our insecurities underneath it all, and that may explain why I was drawn to Frances, because I recognised the same thing in her.

Frances had a lot to contend with in the past, because she was an early schoolleaver and had her first child Eoghan at 19.

She got married at 20, and had a second child Aoife, and her marriage broke up very early on. Her alcoholism came about because she drank to overcome her shyness and loneliness, and inability to communicate with people.

I know what it's like to combine having young children and being in the public eye, and I really admire Frances for managing to raise her family and have such a successful career in music. Being a recovering alcoholic anywhere in the world would be very difficult, but in this country, we do everything surrounded by drink. Frances is in the public eye and the music business, and must have to deal with the whole Irish cultural thing of people saying, "Are you not having a drink?" the whole time.

Frances sang with the Black Family, Arcady and Kieran Goss before making her first solo album Talk to Me in 1994. Her older sister Mary was already very well established on the music scene by then. I felt for Frances really, because following a very famous sibling is a very hard thing to do. Talk to Me went to number one, and stayed there for 10 weeks, and she has had seven best-selling albums since then, and won the IRMA award for Best Irish Female twice.

I've always loved listening to her music, and also hearing her being interviewed, because her story is very interesting, and I greatly admire her honesty.

Frances went back to college three years ago as a mature student, to train as an addiction counsellor, which is a marvellous thing to do. She said that she was intrigued by the disease of addiction, and the power it had over people, and wanted to learn as much as she could about it to help others. It must have been very difficult for her at times, combining the studying with her family life and singing career, and I think that the fact that she is now helping other people is amazing.

I met her at the Woman's Way, 'Mother of the Year' competition last year, as we were both judges, and I had to ask her where she found the time to fit everything in.

I found Frances to be a very warm, calm, and quiet person. I know she suffered with shyness in the past, but that lack of confidence didn't come across to me when we met. I think that might be because I met her at a time where's she's found where she's meant to be in life, and is very happy. It's wonderful that her singing career is still going really well after all the years, as evidenced by the fact that she recently sold out the Olympia Theatre and will play the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork next weekend.

And she is also in a very good relationship with her second husband, Brian.

Frances speaks honestly about her alcohol addiction in public, and genuinely doesn't do it to gain publicity for her concerts or albums. The only reason she speaks about it is to help other people who might be in the same position. She herself only came to the realisation that she had a problem, when she read one woman's account of her alcoholism in the paper.

The other thing is that she's not heavy about it. Some people can be quite boring and sanctimonious about how they have overcome their addictions, but Frances is quite matter-of-fact and gracious about her story, and she gets the message across nicely, without pounding it out. And many people have been inspired to seek help after listening to her story or talking to her, which I think is wonderful. She's really making a difference.

Miriam Ahern is organising the Newbridge Silverware CARI Summer Lunch & Fashion Show on 11 May 2007 in Cruzzo. For tickets, please call (01) 845 8177