![\"Singer\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5080206_12_articleinline_Lesllie_20Dowdall_20_20finding_20lovedating_20in_20later_20life_20_6_1_.jpg\" "\\"Singer\/")
Singer\/ Songwriter, Leslie Dowdall, Greenan, Co Wicklow. Phorograph: Garry O’Neill.<\/p>\nOnce the frontwoman of acclaimed 1980s Celtic trad\/rock band In Tua Nua, Leslie Dowdall now teaches music and lives an active life in rural Wicklow.<\/p>\n
That life has been the stuff of dreams: Recording albums, touring the world, and performing with rockstar royalty like U2, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, and Simple Minds.<\/p>\n
These days, she spends her time gigging and passing on her love of music, enjoying the company of friends, and walking in the hills of Glenmalure.<\/p>\n
At 65, she\u2019s also embarking on a new romance. \u201cI have met somebody. I\u2019ve known him for a long time, and it\u2019s actually very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s enjoying the early days of the relationship. \u201cI always said, if I meet another man, he has to be kind, have a sense of humour, a sense of himself. He has to be able to drive and have a talent I admire. And I\u2019ve found that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I am in my life, companionship in a relationship is so important. It\u2019s about having somebody there at the end of the day with a cup of tea or just to sit on the sofa with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dowdall wasn\u2019t looking for love after the break-up of her 16-year marriage to Spaniard Enrique Alda Delgado.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone once said to me, \u2018You can\u2019t enter someone else\u2019s garden until you have your own garden intact. And if you don\u2019t have it together by the age of 60, then you might as well forget it. But I say to anyone looking for love: Never give up hope. It\u2019s never too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acceptance in a relationship is critical to her. \u201cYou get to the stage of your life where you want someone to get you, to understand who you are, what you\u2019re about. And they\u2019re content to let you shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dowdall is speaking at a Bealtaine Festival event on May 30 at Dublin\u2019s Project Arts Centre about finding love and intimacy in later life. Joining a panel discussion titled \u2018Not Dead Yet: Love, Intimacy, Dating in Later Life\u2019 with Rory O\u2019Neil (aka Panti Bliss) and neuroscientist Sabina Brennan, the singer will chat about the emotional, social, and cultural dimensions of romantic relationships in later life.<\/p>\n
\n I got married at 48. I wasn\u2019t rushing into that one, either. It was never on top of my list. In fact, getting married was probably the end of my list.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cMy father used to say he couldn\u2019t give me away in a lucky bag. But then, at 48, it seemed like a good time to get married. And now I\u2019m not married. And guess what? I\u2019m OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a worldly wisdom inherent in Dowdall, coupled with a straight-talking pragmatism. And though she has experienced serious health challenges, she continues to have an optimistic and matter-of-fact approach to any obstacles.<\/p>\n
In 1993, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which was successfully treated, and in 2020, she was in a serious car accident that left her with multiple broken bones in her wrist, curtailing her ability to play music for a time, and putting an end to another one of her beloved activities \u2013 horse riding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese days I keep myself fit by walking the Wicklow hills, and I have a huge interest in horticulture, which is great for my mental wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer\/ Songwriter, Leslie Dowdall, Greenan, Co Wicklow. Phorograph: Garry O’Neill.<\/p>\n
Dowdall is proud of her independence. \u201cI\u2019m a homeowner, I have my own car, I have my own job. I\u2019m totally independent. I go where I like, do what I like. I think back to our mothers, having to either wait for a man to give them money or be reliant on somebody; it must have been horrendous to have so little control over their lives. That freedom we enjoy now is the best thing that\u2019s ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she wasn\u2019t rushing into a new relationship, Dowdall believes that everyone \u201cdeserves to be happy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m amazed at the number of people in loveless marriages. And I understand that people stay together for children, but, you know, it doesn\u2019t always work out, and I think it\u2019s better to be in a loving relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Dowdall, the foundations of a loving relationship are \u201ccommon interests, friendship, and communication. Communication is so important\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dating apps are no substitute for meeting people, Dowdall says. \u201cI see some of my friends trying online dating. I remember one day my friend was scrolling on Tinder. And I thought, \u2018This is scary, this is not the way to go\u2019. I told her to join a club, and she did. She met a guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll find the right person if you\u2019re open to it. And you have to be out in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, she continues to enjoy a career in music. Along with teaching young people in Music Generation Wicklow, part of a national education programme, she has teamed up with actor and singer Flo McSweeney for Natural Women, a show that pays homage to their icons, Carole King and Linda Ronstadt. Dowdall and McSweeney, who have been friends for decades, are touring the country performing the American songsters\u2019 classics.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlo and I, we\u2019re now in our 60s, and we\u2019re out doing this thing, and really enjoying it. It\u2019s brilliant. We\u2019re looking at each other on stage, and we\u2019re thinking, \u2018We should have done this years ago’.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a new romance, a job she loves, and an ongoing career in music, Dowdall appears to have found the key to a contented life. \u201c I have more energy than most 30-year-olds I meet,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the simple things, really. I\u2019m still involved in music, I have a great group of friends, I live in a beautiful part of the world, and I\u2019m happy with myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
I know people stay together for children, but it\u2019s better to be in a loving relationship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once the frontwoman of acclaimed 1980s Celtic trad\/rock band In Tua Nua, Leslie Dowdall now teaches music and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,1748,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-486581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fitness-exercise-work-life-balance-healthy-eating","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116580487404151003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}