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Judy Collins is 71 years old and sounds like she isn't stopping for anyone. Promoting her Belfast concert next month (18th June Waterfront Hall), it was arranged that she would do an interview with me from New York. To call her a legend isn't an understatement. From classical piano child prodigy to Grammy Hall of Fame folk singer interpreter, she has packed a lot in to those 71 years. She told me how she first heard "Both Sides Now", the Joni Mitchell song that got Collins inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. "It was three in the morning when my phone rang and Joni Mitchell was put on the line to sing the song to me". It's a song that kills me everytime I listen to it. Joni Mitchell has since recorded it herself and makes it less swingy than Collins, the pain of the song more pronounced. But if it hadn't been for Judy Collins, the young Joni Mitchell might never have got the break she deserved. There are others in the Collins orbit - Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman as well as Mitchell. Up and coming young songwriters whose work was showcased by the voice of Judy Collins. She knew who to pick. "And do they ever call me?" she said to me, with more than a hint of irony.Ìý

For me though the song that defines Judy Collins is "Send in the Clowns", the Stephen Sondheim ballad from his musical "A Little Night Music". I learned it from my mum. In fact, there is tv footage of me singing it on a RTE/´óÏó´«Ã½ NI talent show, "Go for It", in 1992. I had only entered the competition on a whim. Well, l blame Gerry Anderson. He said I should go along to the auditions in St Columb's Hall in Derry. Next thing, I'm in some quarter final, standing in front of a tv studio audience. Newry singer Rose Marie is one of the judges. Afterwards, she said I would make a good Snow White! It was my first, and last, performance of "Send in the Clowns"

Just as a matter of interest,ÌýPeter Corry won that first talent show.Ìý