His father Charlie Mageean was part of a riveting gang in the Tyne shipyards at that time but soon after became a coal miner: "I asked my dad once if he was present at my birth and he said that Newcastle United were playing at home to Stoke City that day so, of course, he was at the match!"

His parents, Peggy and Charlie Mageean, were both good singers and often had late night singing parties in the house, particularly at New Year.

Later, in 1987, they were invited by the East German government to perform at a sea shanty festival in Berlin commemorating the city's founding.

[2] For 35 years Mageean and Collins sang at festivals and concerts throughout Europe, and North America and performed in France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Poland, United States and Canada.

In 1986 the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race came to Newcastle for the first time and he was asked to form a shanty group to perform there.

Mageean's arrangement of the song "Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates" was used in the 2003 historical epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.