Country music stars pay tribute to Ireland’s dancing queen who died doing what she loved

Singer Michael English, who became a close friend, described Kay as “typical of the people who come to see us and build their own community of friends through the social dancing scene.”

Kay, who was in her 70s and lived in Clonee, Co. Meath, travelled the country to dances for decades with her partner Bill. Both also regularly featured on the TG4 Glór Tíre TV show where they were star dancers.

A loyal Sunday World reader, Kay also regarded this newspaper as “the bible” of the Irish country music scene and it was her go-to publication for information about shows, dances and the stories of the bands and singers.

Her friend Marie Keenan says: “Kay was a country and western dancer, a brilliant dancer, and a weekly reader of the Sunday World for all the information about dances and the write-ups about bands.

“She was more a fan of the newspaper than apps – and did not do Facebook for her dancing information. She relied on the Sunday World.”

Marie delivered the eulogy at Kay’s graveside and said: “I saw her first on the dance floor in the Lucan Spa. She stood out; how she could dance and how beautiful she looked. I watched her dance foot perfect to every beat. Jiving, quickstep, slow waltz, foxtrots – they all seemed to come so easy.

“She loved the bands and travelled the country to see and support them and she was not short of giving an opinion on their performance at the end of the night. She felt it her duty to tell the band how brilliant they were and show gratitude. Equally she was not shy in telling them how something needed to improve.

“Of course, Kay had her favourite bands, and she would always defend them no matter what I thought. Kay was the more authoritative voice. She was, after all, the ‘Queen of the Dancefloor’ – she was dancing a long time, and she knew her music. And she always gave new bands a chance.

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Michael English told how he was in regular contact with Kay to the end. “I gave Kay my number during Covid. She’d ring me one week and I’d ring her the other. She was lovely,” he says.

Singing star Robert Mizzell also paid tribute to Kay on social media, saying: “It’s with a sad heart I heard the news of a good friend Kay Feeney, who passed away... I know in her last moments she was doing what she loved most. May she rest in eternal peace.”