Her father Kevin was a keen fiddle player and mandolinist, a plasterer by trade and a native of Rathlin Island, County Antrim.

She is the youngest of five children, having three brothers Shay, Michael and Martin, and one sister, Mary Black, who is also a well-known singer.

She gained confidence in her singing abilities and enhanced her performing skills by joining the band Arcady in 1988 (with former De Dannan member Johnny McDonagh, Brendan Larrissey, Patsy Broderick, Seán Keane, Cathal Hayden, Sharon Shannon, and Paul Doyle).

The single for the album's title track, the song "After the Ball", which featured Black on lead vocals, performed well in the Irish charts and also made an impact on the American folk market.

Other artists on A Woman's Heart included Eleanor McEvoy, Sharon Shannon, Maura O'Connell, Dolores Keane, and her sister Mary Black, who had achieved international success by then.

However, it was her cover of the Christie Hennessy song, "All the Lies That You Told Me", that received the most attention and it signalled the arrival of Black as a major new talent.

In March 1995, Black's second solo album, The Sky Road, was released in Ireland, the UK and the United States.

Among Ms. Black's most successful singles are re-recordings of Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore" in 1996 and 1997, the Yvonne Elliman-popularized tune "Love Me, Please".

The follow-up album was 1998's Don't Get Me Wrong, which was released in the UK under Sony Records and was her fourth solo effort.

Her two most recent albums How High the Moon (2003) and This Love Will Carry (2006) have also sold well in Ireland and Black toured the United States in support of the recordings.

[9] She established a charity called the Rise Foundation in 2009 which supports family members who have a loved one with an alcohol, drug or gambling problem.

The award was in recognition of her work as founder of RISE Foundation and her "tireless efforts on behalf of those struggling with addiction and their families".