Her paternal great-grandfather Francis Martini was born in Dublin to immigrants from Saronno, north of Milan, Italy.

Two of Martin's maternal great-grandparents, William Green and Elizabeth Nangle, had a coal-mining background; they had transferred to Belfast from Larkhall, Scotland.

From this point, she concentrated on a solo career as well as occasional live appearances with Chips until they recruited a new lead singer (Valerie Roe) in the late 1980s.

[8] Martin was one of the hosts on the RTÉ quiz show The Lyrics Board,[9] and also served as one of Louis Walsh's behind-the-scenes team on the first series of ITV's The X Factor.

While she was dismissed from later seasons,[11] speaking on Saturday Night with Miriam on RTÉ television on 28 July 2007, she said that she was "open" to being invited back on to the show.

[citation needed] She was a guest performer at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005.

[12] During the interval of Eurovision 2013, the host Petra Mede presented a light-hearted history of the contest, during which she explained to viewers that Johnny Logan had won the competition three times, in 1980, 1987 and 1992.

Appearing alongside Linda Martin in some vintage footage she joked that he had won the third time disguised as a woman, saying, "I recognise a drag queen when I see one".

She starred in Cinderella as the Wicked Stepmother, Snow White as the Evil Queen and Robin Hood as herself, at the Olympia Theatre.