Rose Marie Newry: Funeral hears one last song from beloved singer and entertainer

​​A funeral service for renowned singer Rose-Marie closed with a moving recording of her own singing.

​She died last week aged 68, prompting tributes to her wide and varied showbusiness career.​

Originally from a farm outside Newry, she was the eldest of six children.

She released 19 albums, sold out the London Palladium on several occasions and appeared in The Royal Variety Show.

Rose Marie, in an image from her Facebook page dated 30 May this year

She was also a television and radio personality and was a former judge in the BBC talent show ‘Go For It’.

Rose-Marie had a show on BBC Radio Bedfordshire in the 1990s.

Requiem Mass was celebrated yesterday at Church of the Sacred Heart in Cloughoge and was attended by around 300 people.

Fr Richard Naughton said: “It [the funeral] was much more on a personal level than on her career. But obviously that is coming into it because she was very committed to her career. It took her from Newry to London at 19. And then, after periods in London, she studied music, dance, and acting in LA.

“Then she came back to London, but then moved to where she really regarded as home, which was Blackpool due to all the possibilities of year-round entertainment functions. That was where she was happiest.

“But she was constantly coming back to Newry because of her strong family links and to care for her elderly mother.”

Fr Naughton said the end of the service saw a recording of her singing played. “It was very touching and very moving to hear,” he added.